


Perils of the Mind

by Nova_Xel



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, But you don't need to know WH40K, Characters may die but if so we'll try again, Featuring Real Dice Rolls, Gen, Kind of a WH40K crossover, Psychic Abilities, TTRPG
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28998714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova_Xel/pseuds/Nova_Xel
Summary: After Chell is awoken by Wheatley, she discovers she has mysterious powers. These powers could make surviving and escaping Aperture much easier - but each time she uses them, there is chance for... unforeseen consequences.  Fate is certainly not on her side.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Perils

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic has a fun twist to it – it is going to be partially played like a pen-and-paper roleplaying game, somewhat like Dungeons and Dragons. However, the roleplaying game I’m going to use as a basis is Black Crusade from the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. Don’t worry – while this is technically a crossover, no prior knowledge of WH40K will be needed to understand this story. The powers Chell has in this story are the same ones that a psyker could have in WH40K. Black Crusade was chosen out of all the WH40K roleplaying games because it had the widest variety of psychic powers out of all the ones that I’ve played – as well as some lore reasons. 
> 
> I’ve made a character sheet for Chell using the usual character creation process from Black Crusade, picking abilities that made sense for her and omitting abilities that a character would normally start with, but wouldn’t make sense for her to have, like lore and language skills. Whenever she wants to use a psychic power, I’ll roll dice to see if she succeeds, and what unintended consequences may occur. I’ll only treat it like a roleplaying game for WH40K related stuff; I’m not going to roll to see if she can solve a test or do anything she can do in Portal 2. This means that I don’t really know what’s going to happen in this fic – or if Chell even survives to see the end.

_It is the 41 st millennium…_

_For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the carrion lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die._

_Yet in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the Daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomicon, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and the countless planetary defense forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus, to name but a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants – and worse._

_To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods._

_Yet Chell is unaware of any of this. For tens of thousands of years, the Aperture Science facility sat untainted by the wars of the outside, holding scientific knowledge long forgotten that would now be called heresy. But despite her isolation, Chell’s existence has not gone entirely unnoticed, and the darkness of the Warp has crept is way inside her mind and inside Aperture…_

* * *

“Probably ought to bring you up to speed on something right now,” the core said as the door slid open and Chell walked into the decaying hallway beyond it, “In order to escape, we’re going to have to through HER chamber. And she will probably kill us if, if, she’s, um, awake. If you want to just call it quits, we could just sit here. Forever. That’s an option. Option A: Sit here. Do nothing. Option B: Go through there, and if she’s alive, she’ll almost certainly kill us.”

Through the hallway’s windows, Chell could see another hallway, suspended crookedly across a chasm, leading to a large, familiar chamber. She cautiously crept around the corner and into said hallway, which was tilting to one side. The core grew visibly more nervous as she came closer to the door on the other end.

“Okay, I’m going to lay my cards on the table: I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna go in there! “Don’t... Don’t go in there!” He begged, nearly panicking as door opened and she entered the chamber, “Don’t – She’s off. She’s off! Don’t panic over it, she’s off. All fine, on we go!”

She approached the destroyed remains of the AI, half expecting her to spring back to life and attack. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small pool of water. Oddly, the reflections of herself and the ceiling in the pool seemed distorted even though the pool looked still. 

“There she is... What a nasty piece of work she was, honestly,” the core said, shaking his entire body as though he were shaking his head, “Like a proper maniac. You know who ended up, do you know who ended up taking her down in the end? You’re not gonna believe this. A human. You, ah, you alright there, mate? You’re starin’ into space a bit...”

Chell tore her eyes from the pool and shook herself out of it, concluding there must be some chemical in the water, even though something had seemed off about every reflection she had seen since waking up in this facility. The whispering in the back of her mind had grown a little louder as well, but she forced herself to ignore it and focus. She could not afford to worry about whatever brain damage she had gotten from being in suspension until she got out of this facility. She made her way to the other end of the chamber.

“Anyway, apparently this human escaped and no one’s seen him since,” the core went on. He continued talking as she found her way out of the chamber and down onto a catwalk. They ended up in a small, circular room with a dock in the middle for the core and levers covering the walls. 

“This is the main breaker room. Look for a switch that says ESCAPE POD,” the core instructed, “Don’t touch _anything_ else. Not interested in anything else. Don’t _touch_ anything else. Don’t even _look_ at anything else, just – well, obviously you’ve got to look at everything else to find ESCAPE POD, but as soon as you’ve looked at something and it doesn’t say ESCAPE POD, look at something else, look at the next thing. Alright? Don’t touch anything else or look at any – well, look at other things but don’t... you understand.” Chell had tuned him out long before he got to the end of his rant. “Can you see it anywhere? I can’t see it anywhere,” he said after only a few seconds of looking, “Uh, tell you what, plug me in and I’ll turn the lights on.”

She plugged him into the dock in the middle of the room and soon after the lights came on.

“Let there be light! That was, uh... God. I was quoting God,” the core said. Suddenly, the floor rotated. “Oh! Look at that, it’s turning. Ominous. But probably fine. Long as it doesn’t start moving up...” Almost immediately, two klaxons rang out, and the floor began moving up, flipping every switch in the breaker room as it did so. 

“It’s... It’s moving up. Okay, okay! No, don’t worry! I’ve got it I’ve got it I’ve got it! _This_ should slow it down!” the core reassured her confidently. The floor paused briefly before moving up even faster. “No. Makes it go faster,” he said, disappointed.

“Powerup initiated,” came the male voice that earlier had guided Chell through test chambers as the floor came to halt, leaving them before the remains of the dead AI. 

“Don’t panic! Alright? Stop panicking!” the core said in a panicked voice. The massive AI began to move, wires pulling its head to its body as its optic flashed a dull yellow. “I can still stop this,” the core insisted, “Ahh. Oh, there’s a password. It’s fine. I’ll just hack it. No problem... um...”

Chell tuned him out once more and watched her old enemy reassemble herself. Cables dragged the entire massive machine into the air. Sparks flew from her as she swung and rotated. 

“Powerup complete,” said the announcer. Chell was normally able to keep calm in these sorts of situations, but she felt her heart begin to race and her breathing quicken. The whispering was louder than ever. It became hard to think. She felt energy well up inside her as her head began to hurt.

The AI suddenly stilled, focusing her optic on Chell.

“Oh... it’s you,” GLaDOS said, her voice deceptively calm, “It’s been a long time. How have you been?”

The feeling surging in Chell’s head was becoming too much. She was certain she was going to have a panic attack or something. Suddenly, though, it was all released.

“I’ve been really busy being dead. You know, after you-ack!” GLaDOS flinched as her optic shattered.

Chell stepped back, eyes widening in confusion as sparks flew from the AI. “ _What did you do?_ ” she hissed, shaking her core.

The air suddenly felt like it was vibrating. The world around her began to look transparent, and through the transparency, Chell saw a bizarre world made up of twisting landscapes of impossible geometry that were constantly reshaping themselves with swirling storms of energy in the background. It was like looking at a visual paradox, except horrific and constantly changing to become more and more mind-boggling. Just looking at it made her head swim and her reality come into question.

In that world, seemingly pressed up against and clawing at a thin veil separating them from her world, were horrific creatures.

Claws, tentacles, pulsating skins, toothy grins, bloodstained swords, butcher knives, whips and chains...

Their laughter echoed in both Chell’s ears and mind. She fell back against the wall behind her, holding up her portal gun as if it was a weapon, trembling. They all seemed to be glaring, laughing, directly at her, looking through her into her soul.

There was a strange sputtering sound, so she tore her eyes from the terrifying creatures and saw that GLaDOS had once again gone limp. The core, meanwhile, was staring straight ahead, his blue optic a tiny point. 

Suddenly, the creatures and their strange world disappeared, and everything was back to normal. Shivering, Chell got up. GLaDOS was still limp, and the core was still staring silently. While she tried to compose herself and make sense of what just happened, GLaDOS started to move again. She immediately focused her gaze on Chell.

“Oh... it’s you,” GLaDOS said, just as she did before, her optic still sparking, “It’s been a long time. How have you been? I’ve been really busy being dead. You know, after you _murdered me_.”

Two mechanical claws descended from the ceiling, snatching up both Chell and the core. The core seemed to snap out of it, his optic widening again and looking around. “W-what-“ he began before GLaDOS squeezed him into silence. 

“Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you’re going to regret,” she paused as the claw crushed the core, sending sparks flying and making his optic go dark, “But I think we can put our differences behind us,” GLaDOS went on as she tossed the core away, “For science. You monster.” The claw began to carry her towards the incinerator. “I will say, though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test.” The incinerator slid open. “I love it too. There’s just one small thing we need to take care of first.”

With that, Chell was dropped into the incinerator. Normally, the crushers snapping shut just in front of her as she fell through the shaft would have frightened her, but after what she had just been through, they barely registered. When she landed, her head was still spinning as it tried and failed to comprehend the twisted world she had seen. She was also troubled by GLaDOS’ apparent memory loss – hadn’t she been there? Didn’t she see it? Unless it never happened...

 _That had to be it_ , Chell decided as she made her way across fallen scaffolding that formed a bridge across the flaming pit of the incinerator. It was just a hallucination. That core did say she probably had brain damage, after all. She had to ignore it and focus on the real world.

 ** _I’m afraid it’s very real_** , came a deep voice, chuckling. Chell froze in place and looked around, but she was completely alone. **_You were granted a great gift. I can help you use it. The fact that it hasn’t killed you already is promising_** , the voice came again.

 _It’s just a voice in my head_ , Chell told herself firmly, _It’s just brain damage..._

“There it is,” GLaDOS said as Chell came upon the dual portal device, “Hold on...” The panels covering it lifted themselves up. "There.” Chell took the device and the AI continued, “Good. You have a dual portal device. There should be a way back to the testing area up ahead.”

 ** _I’ll prove I am indeed real_** , came the voice, **_The first test chamber will involve... deadly lasers_**. The voice laughed and then went silent. 

“Once testing starts, I’m required by protocol to keep interaction with you to a minimum. Luckily, we haven’t started testing yet. This will be our only chance to talk,” GLaDOS explained as Chell began making her way through a destroyed test chamber. “Here, let me get that for you,” she said as a panel flipped down so she could portal up to a ledge. “Do you know the biggest lesson I learned from what you did? I discovered I have a sort of black-box quick-save feature. In the event of a catastrophic failure, the last two minutes of my life are preserved for analysis. I was able – well, forced really – to relive you killing me. Again and again. Forever,” she continued, “You know, if you’d done that to somebody else, they might devote their existence to exacting revenge... Luckily I’m a bigger person than that. I’m happy to put this all behind us and get back to work. After all, we’ve got a lot to do, and only sixty more years to do it. More or less. I don’t have the actuarial tables in front of me” 

Chell had gotten to what looked like the beginning of the test chamber. A panel with the number 19 lit up as she approached it and turned down a hallway blocked by panels lying limply on the ground. “I’ll just move that out of the way for you. This place really is a wreck,” GLaDOS said as the panels weakly moved aside, “But the important thing is you’re back. With me. And now I’m on to all your little tricks. So there’s nothing to stop us from testing... for the rest of your life.” The door at the end of the hallway opened to a stairway leading down to an elevator. Chell quickly entered it, figuring as it descended that at least testing would help her ignore any voices she might hear. “After that... who knows? I might take up a hobby. Reanimating the dead, maybe.”

The elevator came to a halt in the first test chamber.

“Sorry about the mess,” GLaDOS said as Chell exited the elevator, “I’ve really let this place go since you killed me. By the way, thanks for that.”

“Sarcasm Self-Test complete,” came the announcer’s cheerful voice.

“Oh good, that’s back online,” GLaDOS continued, “I’ll start getting everything else working while you perform this first simple test. Which involves deadly lasers and how test subjects react when locked in a room with deadly lasers.”

 _Involves deadly lasers_. Those words made Chell’s blood run cold and she froze in the test chamber’s entrance. She thought she heard laughter in the back of her mind. Sure enough, after some time the laser activated. She regained her composure and quickly solved the test.

“Not bad. I forgot how good you are at this,” GLaDOS flatly praised her as she exited the test, “You should pace yourself, though. We have a _lot_ of tests to do.”

An elevator descended into the center of the elevator room and opened. 

**_Wait_** , came the voice again before she could get on it, **_Humor me. Try lifting a piece of rubble with your mind. It’s a simple technique known as Mind over Matter; imagine reaching out with hands of spectral presence_**.

 _Spectral presence, sure_ , Chell skeptically as she looked at the rubble cluttering the room. She was wary of what GLaDOS might do if she took too long to get on the elevator, but maybe shutting this voice up would be worth it. She looked at a small piece of rubble on the ground and imagined an invisible hand reaching out of her and grabbing it. She felt energy well up in her like before, and the piece of rubble slowly rose from the pile. She pictured the hand bringing it to her and it came, drifting slowly through the air. She held out her hand as it hovered in front of her and released it, expecting it to fall but instead it drifted slowly down into her palm. She stared at it, dumbfounded, wondering if she was somehow hallucinating again even though her head felt clear, unlike before when she saw the terrifying other world and the creatures within it.

“Have you forgotten how to use the elevator? All you have to do is step inside,” GLaDOS snapped.

Chell dropped the piece of rubble and boarded the elevator, which immediately descended to the next test chamber.

* * *

**The following End of Chapter Note was too long for the 5,000 character limit for notes.**

**Writing this first chapter taught me a valuable lesson. Don’t decide to use random chance in a story and then proceed to make plans. I planned to slowly introduce Chell to her powers and the world that they came from, like how most fantasy stories about a character discovering magic handle it. But then I rolled the dice. And the dice laughed. If you’re curious, what follows is a lengthy explanation of the WH40K rules applied in this chapter, what the dice rolls were, and why things happened the way they did. I tried to keep it short, but a lot of stuff happened in this chapter that needed explanation. No, if you’re not interested, you do not need to read it to understand the story.**

**If you’re unfamiliar with pencil-and-paper RPGs in which you roll dice to determine what happens, we often use the term XdY, where X is the number of dice rolled and Y is the number of sides each die has. If a rulebook says that a certain attack does 2d6 damage, then you roll 2 six-sided dice and add the results to figure out how much damage you did with that attack. In WH40K, we primarily use d100. One hundred-sided dice do not exist as far as I know, so we roll two d10s with one d10 giving the tens place and the other giving the ones place to get a number between 1 and 100. These are also called percentile dice.**

**The most basic action you do in a WH40K roleplaying game is a characteristic test. Each character has 9 characteristics with scores between 1 and 100: Weapons Skill (WS), Ballistic Skill (BS), Strength (S), Toughness (T), Agility (AG), Intelligence (INT), Perception (PER), Willpower (WP), and Fellowship (FEL). To see if your character succeeds in doing an action related to a characteristic, you roll a d100 and if the result is equal to or less than your character’s characteristic score, your character succeeds. For every 10 points less than the characteristic score that you roll, you get a degree of success. Likewise, for every 10 points above the score that you roll, you get a degree of failure. For example, if you have a characteristic score of 53 and roll a 31, you succeed by 2 degrees.** **Psykers like Chell have another stat called Psy Rating (PR), which indicates their psychic power. Psykers in this game start with a PR of 3, and so Chell’s PR is 3.**

**The first instance of psychic powers being used was after GLaDOS wakes up. Chell’s psychic powers manifest for the first time in the form of her accidentally using a psychic technique called Force Bolt, in which you shoot an invisible projectile, on GLaDOS. When using a psychic power, the first step is to pick one of three power levels: Fettered, where you hold back and cannot cause psychic phenomena; Unfettered, which is standard but there is a chance to cause psychic phenomena; and Push, where you go beyond your normal limits and are guaranteed to cause psychic phenomena. Since this is Chell’s first time using a psychic power, I went with Unfettered – she doesn’t yet know how to hold herself back or push her limits. Force Bolt, like most psychic powers, require a willpower test to use, and Chell has a Willpower score of 61. However, Force Bolt is a fairly simple technique, and thus is given an Ordinary (+10) challenge rating, so we add 10 to her Willpower. We also add 5 for each point of PR, so altogether we have 61 + 10 + 15 = 86. To successfully use Force Bolt, Chell must roll an 86 or lower.**

**I roll for her and get a 33. Success! But there’s a problem. When using the Unfettered power level, psychic phenomena occurs if you roll a number whose first digit is the same as its second, like 33. Leave it to a dangerous mute lunatic to cause psychic phenomena the first time she uses a psychic power. There are a number of different psychic phenomena that can occur. To figure out which one, roll a d100 and consult the Psychic Phenomena table in the rulebook. In general, higher numbers give you worse results.**

**I roll and get a 94. Remember when I said that higher numbers give you worse phenomena? Well, if you roll a 75 or higher, you instead get Perils of the Warp. Perils of the Warp are a special type of psychic phenomena that are much worse than normal psychic phenomena. Leave it to a dangerous mute lunatic to cause Perils of the Warp the first time she uses a psychic power. Considering what a lot of Perils of the Warp entail, I wouldn’t have been surprised at this point if Chell died and took GLaDOS and Wheatley down with her. Like with psychic phenomena, to determine what Perils of the Warp you get, roll a d100 and consult the Perils of the Warp table. I roll and get a 69, which corresponds to:** **  
**

**Rending the Veil:** The air vibrates with images of cackling daemons and the kaleidoscopic taint of the warp is rendered visible. All sentient creatures (any creature with an Intelligence characteristic) within 1d100 meters (rolled and got 99 meters) must test against Fear (2). The psyker must Test against Fear (4) instead. This effect lasts for 1d5 rounds.

**So now Chell, GLaDOS, and Wheatley must all take a Fear test. A Fear test is a Willpower test with the level of Fear corresponding to what modifier you apply to your Willpower. Chell must take a Fear (4) test, which means she has to apply a -30 modifier to her Willpower score. So, in order to pass the Fear test, she must roll a 31 or under. I roll for her and get a 71, which is 4 degrees of failure. When you fail a Fear test, you must roll a d100 and consult the Shock table in the rulebook, adding 10 points for every degree of failure, to determine how your character is affected by fear. Like with psychic phenomena, higher numbers are worse. Chell failed by 4 degrees, so I will add 40 to whatever she rolls for the Shock table. She rolls an 11 (finally some good luck for Chell), which means she gets a 51 on the Shock table, which corresponds to:**

Reeling with shock, the character slowly backs away from the thing that confronts him. The character cannot willingly approach the object of his Fear, but may otherwise act normally, albeit with a –10 penalty on all tests for the rest of the Encounter.

**Wheatley is up next. I decided to give him a Willpower of 35. A Fear (2) test means he gets a -10 modifier and must roll under a 25 to succeed. He rolls a 57, so he fails by 3 degrees. On the Shock table, he rolls a 48, meaning he gets a 78, which is:**

The character is frozen in terror. He may take no Actions until he snaps out of it. After snapping out of it, the character makes all tests with a –10 penalty for the rest of the Encounter.

**Now on to GLaDOS. She and Chell are pretty evenly matched in terms of willpower, so I give her a Willpower score of 60. Like Wheatley, she needs to take a Fear (2) test, meaning she gets a -10 modifier. She has the highest odds of succeeding out of everyone, but gets the worst luck. She rolls a 94, 4 degrees of failure. She then rolls a 68, giving her a 108 on the Shock table. This corresponds to:**

The character faints dead away, and remains unconscious for 1d5 rounds. Once he regains consciousness, he is still shaken and suffer a –10 penalty to all tests for the remainder of the Encounter.

**Maybe this is a good thing. Descriptions of the Warp are vague, but from what I gather, if hearing a paradox can kill an AI, GLaDOS would almost certainly not survive looking into the Warp. So... Let’s just say that as soon as she saw it, her mainframe shut her down and deleted the memory. And maybe having a shattered optic helped protect her as well? That makes sense, right?**

**Now, some of the rules I’ve listed state something should last a certain number of rounds. But, we’re not in combat, so rounds aren’t really used. I just went with what timing made narrative sense. Also, although Force Bolt is an attack, I didn’t bother with rolling damage since that would require deciding how many hit points and armor points to give GLaDOS, and since she’s guaranteed to not die since it’s a weak attack and repair herself before we see her again, there really wasn’t much point.**

**After the Rending the Veil effect ends, GLaDOS wakes up and I decide to give Wheatley a chance to “snap out of it.” In order to snap out of it, a character must pass a Willpower test. His Willpower is 35, and he rolls an 8, so he succeeds. Later on, I have Chell use a second psychic power, this time Mind over Matter. Using Mind over Matter requires a Willpower test and has a challenge rating of Routine (+20). So, add 20 to her Willpower of 61 and the 15 she gets from her Psy Rating and we get 96. However, rolling a 91 or higher always results in an automatic failure when using psychic powers regards of other factors, so if she rolled, say, a 93, she still would have failed. Luckily, she rolls a 64 and succeeds.**


	2. Training Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions: Do you want me to keep explaining what’s going on “behind the scenes”? Do you want to see Chell’s character sheet?

“This next test involves discouragement redirection cubes. I’d just finished building them before you had your, well, episode,” GLaDOS said as Chell entered Test Chamber 2. “So now we’ll both get to see how they work. There should be one in the corner.”

Chell felt the temperature drop as she entered the test chamber. Soon, a thin layer of frost spread across every surface in the chamber, except for the floor and walls near the laser. 

“Hmm. There seems to be something wrong with this test chamber’s temperature regulation,” GLaDOS said, genuinely sounding confused, “I’ll work on fixing that while you finish the test.”

Shivering, Chell turned and saw the cube behind some rusted metal bars and broken panels. As she approached, a panel moved the side and the core from before poked his way in, looked at her, and quickly retreated again. She used portals to get the cube out from behind the rubble and finished the test.

“Well done. Here come the test results,” GLaDOS said, “You are a horrible person. That’s what it says: A horrible person. We weren’t even testing for that.”

The shining layer of frost followed her into the elevator to the next test chamber. Sure enough, as she stepped back out of the elevator, this test chamber, too, was freezing cold and sparkling with ice.

“It seems this test chamber is also experiencing difficulties. Did you do something to break the temperature regulation system? If so, I hope you enjoy testing while slipping on ice,” GLaDOS said accusingly. Chell shot a glare a camera. There was no way she had anything to do with it – in fact, it was probably a new way for GLaDOS to mess with her. 

**_Do not be so certain_** , came that deep voice again with a chuckle, which Chell promptly ignored.

“Anyway, don’t let that ‘horrible person’ thing discourage you. It’s just a data point. If it makes you feel any better, science has now validated your birth mother’s decision to abandon you on a doorstep.”

As Chell started solving the test, she noticed an opening in the corner. Through, she found herself in a small room with the writings “Sucker’s Luck”, “Exile”, and “Too Many Variables” and drawings covering the walls. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like there was any way to escape the test chamber, but it was clear none of the cameras could see her back here.

 ** _The Silica Animus you so fear cannot see you here_** , the deep voice in the back of her mind said, **_Why not practice your new powers?_**

 _Silica Animus?_ Chell wondered.

 ** _That is what your kind calls sapient machines these days in their modern tongue, High Gothic_** , the voice explained impatiently, **_You will not be able to escape this place without my help. All exits have been covered by the hive city above you. Now, practice the Mind over Matter technique again here._**

Little of what the voice said made any sense to Chell, and she still wasn’t convinced she wasn’t hallucinating, but she felt a strong urge to test her abilities anyway. By the wall were several white cans labelled “BEANS”. She focused on one of them, and imagined it flying out of an opening in the wall. Immediately, it did so, and she heard it clanging against metal as it fell into the abyss. Feeling elated, she did again, sending two more cans flying out of the room.

 ** _Now, try something new. This technique is known as Precision Telekinesis. This requires subtler control, and if done right, will allow you to do anything you can do with your bare hands at a distance. Set down the portal device and use it with your mind_** , the voice instructed.

She placed the device down and stepped a short distance away from it. She focused on it and imagined the feeling of its weight in her hands and her fingers on its triggers. The device slowly rose. As easily as if she were holding it herself, she angled it towards the opening and shot a portal on the wall of the test chamber, then on the wall beside her. She grabbed it out of the air and walked back into the test chamber, deciding it best not to linger.

 ** _Very good indeed_** , the voice praised as she completed the test, **_perhaps you will prove useful after all._**

“Congratulations. Not on the test,” GLaDOS said as she finished, “Most people emerge from suspension terribly undernourished. I want to congratulate you on beating the odds and somehow managing to pack on a few pounds.”

Chell completed the next few test chambers without incident, though each one was completely covered in a thin coating of frost.

“Let’s see what the next test is. Oh. Advanced Aerial Faith Plates,” GLaDOS said as she arrived at the sixth test chamber, “Well. Have fun soaring through the air without a care in the world. _I_ have to go to the wing that was made entirely of glass and pick up fifteen acres of broken glass. By myself.”

As Chell flung herself over the frozen-over pit of goo to solve the test, she noticed an opening up high near the ceiling and flung herself into it using the Aerial Faith Plates. It was another small, secluded area with paintings on the walls, but no escape.

**_Ah, another private area for training. Do you recall how you broke the Silica Animus’ eye?_ **

_I did that?_ Chell asked.

 ** _Of course you did that_** , came an exasperated reply, **_It is called Force Bolt. It allows you to fire an invisible projectile. It is certain to be useful to you. Fire a few Force Bolts at the far wall._**

This was the first time she intentionally tried to use a power that didn’t involve manipulating an object and at first, she wasn’t sure what to do. The voice told her to ‘coalesce her will into a bolt,’ which didn’t help much. Finally, she felt a burst of energy leave her and a small impact appeared on the far wall. Suddenly, she felt strange energy writhe angrily around her, rapidly expanding several feet in all directions. She tensed and glanced around, ready for anything, but after a few minutes, nothing seemed to happen. _What was that?_ she wondered.

 ** _Just a bit of psychic phenomenon. Don’t worry – it didn’t affect you, and there is no one else around for it to affect_** , the deep voice answered, **_You must accustom yourself to such strange happenings – they are inevitable when you draw power from the Warp. You will from now on have psychic phenomenon happening all around you at all times since you have become saturated with warp energy. The frost, for instance, is caused by you. Try Force Bolt a few more times._**

Cautiously, she tried using the ability two more times successfully and without incident.

 _That… thing… that happened earlier, when I saw that strange place and those creatures, was that…?_ she asked as she left the small room and solved the test.

 ** _Indeed, that was a particularly powerful psychic phenomenon called a peril of the Warp. It is interesting that you caused a peril of the warp the very first time your psychic abilities manifested. It is how I noticed you and decided to tutor you_** , the voice answered.

Chell solved the test and stepped into the elevator, mostly ignoring GLaDOS as the AI talked about garbage or something like that.

 _Who are you?_ she finally asked the voice in her head. An image of an avian beast grinning crept into her mind.

**_I am N’Kath’angoras. I am a Lord of Change, servant of Tzeentch, the Architect of Fate._ **

_… Right_ , she replied, stepping into the next test chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only thing of interest here is the psychic phenomenon that happened toward the end. It was:
> 
> Warp Madness: A violent ripple of tainted discord causes all creatures within 2d10 (7 meters) (with the exception of the Psyker) to become Frenzied for a Round and suffer 1d5 Corruption Points unless they can pass a Difficult (–10) Willpower Test.
> 
> So yeah, it doesn’t affect the Psyker and there was no one else around. So nothing really happened. Would have been funny if that happened when Chell was around Wheatley or GLaDOS, though. Too bad.


	3. Pyromancy [GAME OVER]

“Did you know that people with guilty consciences are more easily startled by loud noi-“ GLaDOS was interrupted by a train horn. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why that went off. Anyway, just an interesting science fact.”

The frost disappeared and the temperature returned to normal, but it was immediately replaced by a bizarre and foul smell, as if a freaky alien died somewhere. Chell guessed this was another effect due to her being “saturated with Warp energy.”

The next test chamber was number 7. She noticed that the cube was a companion cube and sighed; that explained the “guilty conscience” thing earlier. She hopped over the laser and picked it up, only for it to immediately disintegrate.

“Oh. Did I accidentally fizzle that before you could complete the test? I’m sorry,” GLaDOS said sarcastically, “Go ahead and grab another one.”

Chell rolled her eyes. She had a hunch something like this would happen. She never felt guilty for incinerating the companion cube; it was just a box after all. She caught the new cube and moved to place it in the laser beam. It, too, disintegrated.

“Oh. No. I fizzled that one too,” GLaDOS said, “Oh well. We have warehouses _full_ of the things. Absolutely worthless. I’m happy to get rid of them.”

Chell was tempted to say she didn’t care, but maintained her vow of silence. **_Why don’t you say anything?_** asked the voice. What name did he call himself? N’Catch… **_N’Kath’angoras,_** he corrected, annoyed.

_I’ll stick with N’Kath,_ she replied as she solved the test, _And if I said anything to her, it would show that she got to me._

**_Ah. Petty mortal pride. You could send it a message without it knowing it was you. I do not think it knows about the Immaterium or psykers. It’s too old, created before humanity knew of these things._ **

_Immaterium?_ Chell asked, _Also, how?_

**_That’s another term for the Warp. Cast out your mind through the Immaterium. You should be able to sense it and send it a thought directly into its mind._ **

Chell paused testing for a moment, closed her eyes, and tried to do what N’Kath said. In the distance, she detected a flickering ball of seething hatred. Figuring that was her, she sent out a simple “hello?” as a test. She doubted she’d get a response to confirm it worked, though. She finished the test and headed for the exit. 

* * *

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was busy monitoring her test subject and repairing the facility. Suddenly, she heard a very quiet “hello?” She didn’t “hear” it per se, it was in her head, like the voice of an attached core, but she didn’t have any cores attached. The message had no discernable source. Her scans indicated everything was normal. There wasn’t even a record of the message aside from her own memory, which wouldn’t have been the case for a core or anything else. It was like it never actually happened. Confused and a bit on edge, she continued her work.

* * *

“Every test chamber is equipped with an emancipation grill at its exit, so that test subjects cannot smuggle test objects out of the test area. This one is broken. Don’t take anything with you,” GLaDOS warned.

Chell didn’t bother. She had a hunch the cube would be fizzled again. She continued into the elevator room, quite annoyed.

**_What is the significance of this cube?_** N’Kath asked. 

_Not much,_ she replied, _it’s just a cube with pink hearts. Before I was put in stasis for who-knows-how-long, I had to do a long test where I had to carry it around and use it for all sorts of things while_ she _kept telling me it was not alive and couldn’t speak. I guess some people went crazy and got attached to it? At the end of the test, I had to incinerate it, and then after I escaped from her, she tried to make me feel bad by acting like it was my friend and I murdered it. I guess she still thinks I feel bad about it._ Chell explained as she boarded the elevator and rode it down.

**_You incinerated it?_ **

_Yeah, then after I escaped I did the same thing to her cores. That’s how I killed her._

There came a dark chuckle. **_I wonder if the Silica Animus fears fire. I think you have an aptitude for pyromancy._**

_You mean, shooting fire out of my hands?_ she asked.

**_Well, no, you will have to send bolts of fire from already existing fire sources,_** he explained matter-of-factly.

_Oh… right,_ Chell said, slightly embarrassed. The elevator came to a halt in the next test chamber, but she stayed in the elevator room.

**_But you can produce fire yourself. Reach inside, and use your burning rage to produce a small flame in your hand._ **

Burning rage wasn’t exactly Chell’s thing. Burning determination, though, was something she could manage. She reached out her hand and tapped into her fierce determination to survive, easily creating a ball of fire in her hand. It floated above her palm, hot but not burning. Considering what has happened so far, she wasn’t entirely surprised that it worked, but fairly surprised that it was so easy. She supposed she really did have a knack for burning things. She extinguished the flame and proceeded into the next test chamber before GLaDOS got angry with her again for moving too slowly.

She passed through the next test chamber without too much trouble. In test chamber 9, she had a brief encounter with the blue core again. Since she could only hear him when she was launched upward by a faith plate, she caught only a few short snippets of whatever he was trying to say.

“Hey! Hey! It’s me! I’m okay!” he yelled as she reached the top of her jump.

“Well, I’m back,” GLaDOS said. The faith plate started beeping. “The Aerial Faith Plate in here is sending a distress signal. You broke it, didn’t you. There. Try it now.”

The plate stopped beeping, and launched Chell upward again.

“You’ll never believe what happened! Right, I was just lying there, you thought I was done for, but…”

The plate started beeping again. “Hmm. This plate must not be calibrated to someone of your… generous… ness. I’ll add a few zeroes to the maximum weight.” A few beeps followed over the speaker as the AI went on sarcastically, “You look great, by the way. Very healthy. Try it now.”

The plate launched her again.

“A bloody bird! Right? Couldn’t believe it either. And then the bird…”

“You seem to have defeated its load-bearing capacity. Well done. I’ll just lower the ceiling.”

With that, the core was completely cut-off. Not that he was being terribly helpful anyway. He didn’t even seem to realize Chell couldn’t hear what he was saying most of the time. She completed the test and moved on. The next few tests were uneventful.

“Good news,” GLaDOS announced. 

_This can’t be good,_ Chell thought to herself.

“I figured out what to do with all the money I save recycling your one roomful of air,” she went on, “When you die, I’m going to laminate your skeleton and pose you in the lobby. That way future generations can learn from you how not to have your unfortunate bone structure.”

The door to the test chamber suddenly started rapidly opening and closing as Chell approached before closing completely.

“Perfect, the door’s malfunctioning. I guess somebody’s going to have to repair that too. No, don’t get up. I’ll be right back. Don’t touch anything,” the AI warned.

Not long after GLaDOS left, the blue core appeared in the observation room above Chell.

“Hey! Hey! Up here!” he called, “I found some bird eggs up here. Just dropped ‘em into the door mechanism. Shut it right down. I – AGH!” A bird flew into the room, flying around him angrily and cawing. “BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD!” he cried as the bird chased him from the room. A few moments later, he came back, sounding like he was out of breath despite being a robot. “Okay, that’s probably the bird isn’t it? That laid the eggs! Livid!”

_Of course she’s livid_ , Chell thought, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, look, the point is, we’re gonna break out of here! Very soon, I promise, I promise! I just have to figure out how… to break us out of here,” he said, suddenly less confident, “Here she comes! Keep tes- just keep testing! Remember: you never saw me! Never saw me!” He backed up, disappearing around a corner.

“I went and spoke with the door mainframe,” GLaDOS said as the door opened, “Let’s just say he won’t be… well, living anymore. Anyway, back to testing.”

Chell quickly found a small room hidden in the ceiling as she solved the test, perfect for practicing her new pyromancy abilities.

**_Most pyromancy techniques involve manipulating flames that already exist,_** the creature in her mind explained, ** _Before you can learn the Fire Bolt technique, you must first create your own fire, just as we did before._**

With little effort, Chell summoned a ball of fire in her hand.

**_Good. Now, using that as a source, send a bolt of fire at the wall._ **

Chell did so, aiming at an empty bean can sitting on a ledge on the wall. The can burst into flame, but the fire quickly went out as the metal can was not flammable. 

**_You are, indeed, naturally gifted at burning things,_** N’Kath praised, **_Perform this move well enough, and your targets will be set alight._**

Chell frowned, deciding that starting random fires was probably not the best idea. She tried the move again, this time making an effort to hold back. She still produced a strong burst of flame, and another can burned briefly.

She heard an annoyed rumble in the back of her mind from her tutor. **_Get back to testing,_** he snarled.

Chell felt a bit nervous as she dropped back into the test chamber and finished the test. She wasn’t sure if the creature in her mind could actually do anything to her or even what she did wrong, but she instinctively felt she didn’t want to get on his bad side. 

She went through the next three test chambers as quickly as she could. The reintroduction of turrets made her nervous at first, but she managed to go through the first few chambers with them without getting shot. As she entered test chamber 16, she quickly spotted a turret behind a grate and was certain there would be another hidden room behind it. With some portals and a redirection cube, she aimed a laser towards the turret and destroyed it, blowing off the grate. Crawling inside, she noticed a quartet of turrets singing. Raising her eyebrow at this, she scooted past them and found her way into a more open room where she could stand up. 

**_How about we try a more powerful pyromancy technique: Fire Barrage,_** N’Kath suggested. Luckily, he didn’t sound upset. **_This time, shoot multiple bolts of fire from a single source._**

Chell summoned her fire and tried the attack, again holding herself back in hopes of not starting a fire, sending a buzzing swarm of fire balls at the wall. Despite weakening her psychic strength, it was still powerful enough for flames to erupt on the wall for a moment before going out.

She heard the same angry growl from her teacher. **_Let’s try something new,_** he said, as if through gritted teeth, **_Not a new technique, but a more powerful to perform any technique. By reaching deeper into the Warp, you will be able to enhance your power. Try it now with Fire Barrage._**

That was definitely an order, not a suggestion. Chell focused, pulling together more power than she had ever before.

**_Brace yourself,_** N’Kath warned, **_for this is guaranteed to cause psychic phenomenon._**

Chell unleashed a much more powerful blast of fire, which left the entire wall scorched when the flames settled. Chell had no time to feel proud, however. She felt something plunge into her mind.

**_Foolish mortal,_** N’Kath’angoras laughed. His voice was no longer in the back of Chell’s mind, but rather, at the forefront. **_You’ve left your mind wide open._**

Chell fought back, but he quickly overtook her. She felt herself lose control of her own body.

**_Pathetic. I’ve wasted my time training you,_** the creature snarled, **_You’ve failed in your quest for power, just like every other mortal who hopes to wield the power of Chaos._**

Chell could only watch in horror through her eyes as her body made its way out of the room and back into the test chamber. 

* * *

GLaDOS was getting rather annoyed at the test subject’s habit of crawling into holes and disappearing for a time. The monster was definitely up to something, as strange sounds could often be heard emanating from those side areas whenever she went in there, and lately, some smoke as well. How had she managed to do that? GLaDOS had made sure those side areas were free of any way the human could escape for cause trouble, but she caused trouble nonetheless.

Something seemed different about the human as she emerged from her latest hiding place, however. She was somewhat hunched over, and didn’t move quite right as she made her way to the center of the chamber. The turrets behind the glass quickly took aim at her, even though they couldn’t possibly shoot her.

The human dropped her portal device to the floor. Her very flesh seemed to writhe as her body started to rapidly mutate. “ _What the hell?!_ ” GLaDOS gasped in shock as things science simply could not explain happened before her cameras. Feathers grew from the human’s arms and a strange limb emerged from the base of her left arm that writhed and darted about. Then, multi-hued feathered wings burst from her back. She seemed unfazed by all of this and maintained a wicked grin. Then she spoke with a voice mixed between a woman’s and the deep, rumbling voice of an inhuman beast.

“Mortal bodies are so sensitive to occupation,” she commented, almost casually, as she examined her mutated body. She looked up at the turrets still aiming at her through the glass. With a nonchalant flick of her wrist, a vortex opened beneath them, sucking them to its center and causing them to explode. She approached the glass. After a brief pause, her body became somewhat transparent as a shimmering field appeared around her. She passed through both the glass and the chamber wall as if they weren’t there, and vanished from sight.

* * *

Daemonic presences never go unnoticed on Holy Terra. Scores of Space Marines and Inquisitors were deployed to eliminate the threat, led by psykers who could sense the daemon through the Warp and pinpoint its location. They made their way through the many layers of the hive city, then tunneled through the ground. When they broke into the facility, they couldn’t believe their eyes. This place was full of heresy! Since a daemon appeared here, they assumed the place belonged to some cult. They didn’t question how old the facility truly was, or its purpose, or what its technology was capable of. It simply must be heresy.

The daemonic presence had faded, indicating that it returned to the Warp. However, they still knew the general direction it was in. They headed in that direction, destroying everything in their path. They found it a bit odd that they didn’t find any cultists, but assumed they would find them when they found the spot where they summoned the daemon. As they traveled, they kept hearing a voice of the speakers saying something in a language none of them had heard before. Finally, they came across a massive chamber that looked like an important, central location in the facility. Certain that they found the daemon-summoning cultists, the Space Marines and the Inquisitors blasted their way inside.

They found a large, circular room with a domed ceiling. The floor was littered with the broken, mangled remains of small, white machines that were armed with small guns. Near the wall was the dead body of a heavily mutated heretic.

In the center of the ceiling was a large hole with a few sparking wires hanging from it.

The Space Marines and the Inquisitors continued to move about the facility, destroying everything they could find. After a few hours, the facility finished the job for them, as the nuclear reactors exploded.

BAD ENDING – DAEMONIC POSSESSION

Chell burned a Fate Point. She has two left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened.
> 
> In the explanation for the first chapter, when I explained the basics of how using psychic powers worked in WH40K, I mentioned different power levels – Fettered, Unfettered, and Push. Up until now, Chell has only used Unfettered because it’s standard. In this chapter, though, she tried holding back – this was her using her powers at the Fettered level. This halves her Psy Rating, rounded down. Her PR is 3, so when she used powers at the Fettered power level, her PR is counted as 1. When using Fire Bolt and Fire Barrage, you start a fire if you roll enough degrees of success. Ironically, even when using the Fettered power level, she still rolled well enough to start fires.
> 
> When N’Kath’angoras told her to reach deeper into the Warp to draw more power when using that last Fire Barrage technique, he was telling her how to Push. When Pushing, a psyker can increase their PR by up to 5. The downside is that Pushing always results in psychic phenomenon. For each point that they increase their PR by, they must add 5 to their psychic phenomenon roll. Chell increased her PR by 2, bringing her PR up to 5, so she had to add 10 to her roll. Actually, this is what she has to do normally when she causes psychic phenomena. Since she is an unbound psyker she always adds 10 to her psychic phenomenon rolls. 
> 
> She first rolled to see if she succeeded in using Fire Barrage. Her Willpower is 61. Her PR is counted as 5 since she pushed to increase it by 2, so we add 25 to her Willpower. Fire Barrage has a challenge rating of Challenging (+0). So, altogether she must roll lower than 86 to succeed. She rolled a 24, succeeding by 6 degrees. 
> 
> Now, she must roll for psychic phenomenon. She rolled a 69, so we add 10 to that and get 79. Recall from chapter 1 that rolling a 75 or higher on the psychic phenomenon table means you get Perils of the Warp, so you have to roll again on the Perils of the Warp table.
> 
> She rolled a 94.
> 
> Oh no.
> 
> Grand Possession: A grand and terrible warp entity takes interest in the psyker’s soul, descending from the warp to seize the mortal’s body for its own purposes. A Greater Daemon chosen by the GM attempts to possess the psyker (see the Possession Trait in Chapter IV: Talents and Traits). Even if the daemon fails, the psyker still suffers 2d10 Toughness Damage, and will forever add +10 to all rolls on the Psychic Phenomena and Perils of the Warp tables as his body now serves as a conduit to the power of the warp. If the character dies while possessed, the Greater Daemon manifests in the real world for a number of days equal to its Toughness Bonus or until it is destroyed
> 
> So our friend N’Kath tries to possess Chell. When one being attempts to possess another, the two of them keep making Opposed Willpower Tests until one of them gets at least five degrees of success over the other. N’Kath, being a Lord of Change, has a Willpower of 81.
> 
> Okay, first round of Opposed Willpower tests!
> 
> Chell: 90, 2 degrees of failure
> 
> N’Kath’angoras: 28, 5 degrees of success
> 
> So N’Kath won right away and possesses Chell. When someone is possessed, their Strength and Toughness characteristics increase, but their Intelligence, Perception, Willpower, Fellowship, Psy Rating and psychic powers are replaced by the possessor’s. Lords of Change have access to all unaligned and Tzeentch psychic powers, and they automatically succeed their Focus Power Tests and only roll to determine their number of degrees of success. They also have a PR of 9.
> 
> Chell is effectively dead. I doubt anyone in Aperture knows how to perform an exorcism, and the daemon possessing her has no reason to keep her alive since, once she dies, he manifests in the real world and can continue his reign of terror.
> 
> So, what happens now? I knew it was pretty likely that Chell would die before reaching the end of Portal 2. I could start from scratch with a new character sheet, reroll her stats, and start from the beginning, but I don’t want to do that just yet. Instead, I’m going to give Chell 3 Fate Points. When she dies, or otherwise something happens that prevents her from finishing the game, (like, for example, causing GLaDOS to die while she is a potato, so she cannot replace Wheatley at the end) then she burns a Fate Point. I’ll redo the chapter, rerolling everything. This isn’t actually how Fate Points work in WH40K, they normally let you redo a single roll, but this is how I want to do things for this fanfiction. The next chapter will be mostly the same, but hopefully she will survive this time.


	4. Pyromancy

“Did you know that people with guilty consciences are more easily startled by loud noi-“ GLaDOS was interrupted by a train horn. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why that went off. Anyway, just an interesting science fact.”

The frost disappeared and the temperature returned to normal, but it was immediately replaced by winds constantly blowing around her despite being indoors. Chell guessed this was another effect due to her being “saturated with Warp energy.”

The next test chamber was number 7. She noticed that the cube was a companion cube and sighed; that explained the “guilty conscience” thing earlier. She hopped over the laser and picked it up, only for it to immediately disintegrate.

“Oh. Did I accidentally fizzle that before you could complete the test? I’m sorry,” GLaDOS said sarcastically, “Go ahead and grab another one.”

Chell rolled her eyes. She had a hunch something like this would happen. She never felt guilty for incinerating the companion cube; it was just a box after all. She caught the new cube and moved to place it in the laser beam. It, too, disintegrated.

“Oh. No. I fizzled that one too,” GLaDOS said, “Oh well. We have warehouses _full_ of the things. Absolutely worthless. I’m happy to get rid of them.”

Chell was tempted to say she didn’t care, but maintained her vow of silence. **_Why don’t you say anything?_** asked the voice. What name did he call himself? N’Catch… **_N’Kath’angoras,_** he corrected, annoyed.

_I’ll stick with N’Kath,_ she replied as she solved the test, _And if I said anything to her, it would show that she got to me._

**_Ah. Petty mortal pride. You could send it a message without it knowing it was you. I do not think it knows about the Immaterium or psykers. It’s too old, created before humanity knew of these things._ **

_Immaterium?_ Chell asked, _Also, how?_

**_That’s another term for the Warp. Cast out your mind through the Immaterium. You should be able to sense it and send it a thought directly into its mind._ **

Chell paused testing for a moment, closed her eyes, and tried to do what N’Kath said. In the distance, she detected a flickering ball of seething hatred. Figuring that was her, she sent out a simple “hello?” as a test. She doubted she’d get a response to confirm it worked, though. She finished the test and headed for the exit. 

* * *

Meanwhile, GLaDOS was busy monitoring her test subject and repairing the facility. There seemed to be something wrong with the ventilation system this time, since air seemed to be constantly blowing around the human. Just like with the frost situation, though, her scans found no issues. Stranger still, these problems seemed to be following the human around, disappearing as soon as she left the area, though it was physically impossible for her to be the cause. Suddenly, she heard a very quiet “hello?” She didn’t “hear” it per se, it was in her head, like the voice of an attached core, but she didn’t have any cores attached. The message had no discernable source. Her scans indicated everything was normal. There wasn’t even a record of the message aside from her own memory, which wouldn’t have been the case for a core or anything else. It was like it never actually happened. Confused and a bit on edge, she continued her work.

* * *

“Every test chamber is equipped with an emancipation grill at its exit, so that test subjects cannot smuggle test objects out of the test area. This one is broken. Don’t take anything with you,” GLaDOS warned.

Chell didn’t bother. She had a hunch the cube would be fizzled again. She continued into the elevator room, quite annoyed.

**_What is the significance of this cube?_** N’Kath asked. 

_Not much,_ she replied, _it’s just a cube with pink hearts. Before I was put in stasis for who-knows-how-long, I had to do a long test where I had to carry it around and use it for all sorts of things while_ she _kept telling me it was not alive and couldn’t speak. I guess some people went crazy and got attached to it? At the end of the test, I had to incinerate it, and then after I escaped from her, she tried to make me feel bad by acting like it was my friend and I murdered it. I guess she still thinks I feel bad about it._ Chell explained as she boarded the elevator and rode it down.

**_You incinerated it?_ **

_Yeah, then after I escaped I did the same thing to her cores. That’s how I killed her._

There came a dark chuckle. **_I wonder if the Silica Animus fears fire. I think you have an aptitude for pyromancy._**

_You mean, shooting fire out of my hands?_ she asked.

**_Well, no, you will have to send bolts of fire from already existing fire sources,_** he explained matter-of-factly.

_Oh… right,_ Chell said, slightly embarrassed. The elevator came to a halt in the next test chamber, but she stayed in the elevator room.

**_But you can produce fire yourself. Reach inside, and use your burning rage to produce a small flame in your hand._ **

Burning rage wasn’t exactly Chell’s thing. Burning determination, though, was something she could manage. She reached out her hand and tapped into her fierce determination to survive, easily creating a ball of fire in her hand. It floated above her palm, hot but not burning, though the wind made it flicker. Considering what has happened so far, she wasn’t entirely surprised that it worked, but fairly surprised that it was so easy. She supposed she really did have a knack for burning things. She extinguished the flame and proceeded into the next test chamber before GLaDOS got angry with her again for moving too slowly.

She passed through the next test chamber without too much trouble. In test chamber 9, she had a brief encounter with the blue core again. Since she could only hear him when she was launched upward by a faith plate, she caught only a few short snippets of whatever he was trying to say.

“Hey! Hey! It’s me! I’m okay!” he yelled as she reached the top of her jump.

“Well, I’m back,” GLaDOS said. The faith plate started beeping. “The Aerial Faith Plate in here is sending a distress signal. You broke it, didn’t you. There. Try it now.”

The plate stopped beeping, and launched Chell upward again.

“You’ll never believe what happened! Right, I was just lying there, you thought I was done for, but…”

The plate started beeping again. “Hmm. This plate must not be calibrated to someone of your… generous… ness. I’ll add a few zeroes to the maximum weight.” A few beeps followed over the speaker as the AI went on sarcastically, “You look great, by the way. Very healthy. Try it now.”

The plate launched her again.

“A bloody bird! Right? Couldn’t believe it either. And then the bird…”

“You seem to have defeated its load-bearing capacity. Well done. I’ll just lower the ceiling.”

With that, the core was completely cut-off. Not that he was being terribly helpful anyway. He didn’t even seem to realize Chell couldn’t hear what he was saying most of the time. She completed the test and moved on. The next few tests were uneventful.

“Good news,” GLaDOS announced. 

_This can’t be good,_ Chell thought to herself.

“I figured out what to do with all the money I save recycling your one roomful of air,” she went on, “When you die, I’m going to laminate your skeleton and pose you in the lobby. That way future generations can learn from you how not to have your unfortunate bone structure.”

The door to the test chamber suddenly started rapidly opening and closing as Chell approached before closing completely.

“Perfect, the door’s malfunctioning. I guess somebody’s going to have to repair that too. No, don’t get up. I’ll be right back. Don’t touch anything,” the AI warned.

Not long after GLaDOS left, the blue core appeared in the observation room above Chell.

“Hey! Hey! Up here!” he called, “I found some bird eggs up here. Just dropped ‘em into the door mechanism. Shut it right down. I – AGH!” A bird flew into the room, flying around him angrily and cawing. “BIRD BIRD BIRD BIRD!” he cried as the bird chased him from the room. A few moments later, he came back, sounding like he was out of breath despite being a robot. “Okay, that’s probably the bird isn’t it? That laid the eggs! Livid!”

_Of course she’s livid_ , Chell thought, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, look, the point is, we’re gonna break out of here! Very soon, I promise, I promise! I just have to figure out how… to break us out of here,” he said, suddenly less confident, “Here she comes! Keep tes- just keep testing! Remember: you never saw me! Never saw me!” He backed up, disappearing around a corner.

“I went and spoke with the door mainframe,” GLaDOS said as the door opened, “Let’s just say he won’t be… well, living anymore. Anyway, back to testing.”

Chell quickly found a small room hidden in the ceiling as she solved the test, perfect for practicing her new pyromancy abilities.

**_Most pyromancy techniques involve manipulating flames that already exist,_** the creature in her mind explained, ** _Before you can learn the Fire Bolt technique, you must first create your own fire, just as we did before._**

With little effort, Chell summoned a ball of fire in her hand.

**_Good. Now, using that as a source, send a bolt of fire at the wall._ **

Chell did so, aiming at an empty bean can sitting on a ledge on the wall. The can burst into flame, but the fire quickly went out as the metal can was not flammable. 

**_You are, indeed, naturally gifted at burning things,_** N’Kath praised, **_Perform this move well enough, and your targets will be set alight._**

Chell frowned, deciding that starting random fires was probably not the best idea. She tried the move again, this time making an effort to hold back. She still produced a strong burst of flame, and another can burned briefly.

She heard an annoyed rumble in the back of her mind from her tutor. **_Get back to testing,_** he snarled.

Chell felt a bit nervous as she dropped back into the test chamber and finished the test. She wasn’t sure if the creature in her mind could actually do anything to her or even what she did wrong, but she instinctively felt she didn’t want to get on his bad side. 

She went through the next three test chambers as quickly as she could. The reintroduction of turrets made her nervous at first, but she managed to go through the first few chambers with them without getting shot. As she entered test chamber 16, she quickly spotted a turret behind a grate and was certain there would be another hidden room behind it. With some portals and a redirection cube, she aimed a laser towards the turret and destroyed it, blowing off the grate. Crawling inside, she noticed a quartet of turrets singing. Raising her eyebrow at this, she scooted past them and found her way into a more open room where she could stand up. 

**_How about we try a more powerful pyromancy technique: Fire Barrage,_** N’Kath suggested. Luckily, he didn’t sound upset. **_This time, shoot multiple bolts of fire from a single source._**

Chell summoned her fire and tried the attack, again holding herself back in hopes of not starting a fire. This time, though, nothing happened when she tried to shoot bolts of fire.

**_You failed,_** N’Kath growled, **_You held back your power and as a result, you failed. You must draw deeper from the Warp to enhance your power. Try it again._**

Chell focused, pulling together more power than she had ever before.

**_Brace yourself,_** N’Kath warned, **_for this is guaranteed to cause psychic phenomenon._**

She tried the technique again, but still nothing happened. The winds suddenly picked up, guttering the flame in her hand, but she managed to keep it alight. After a few minutes, they calmed back down to their previous levels. She sensed N’Kath getting angrier and didn’t wait for him to say anything before she tried again, drawing even more greedily from the Warp. This time, she succeeded and sent a buzzing swarm of fire balls at the wall. Immediately afterward, she vanished completely.

After a minute, she reappeared, feeling sick to her stomach and dizzy, falling to her knees. _What the hell happened?_

**_You skipped forward in time,_** N’Kath explained.

_How long?_

**_Just a moment. Your mind and body are rebelling against the experience._ **

After a moment of rest, she picked herself back up and went back into the test chamber.

“What do you keep getting up to in those little holes you keep crawling into?” GLaDOS asked accusingly. “I’m going to find out what you’re doing back there where I can’t see you. I’ll know. As I said before… I’m onto all your little tricks.”

Chell maintained a neutral expression while she finished the test, but grinned as she entered the elevator. _I’ve learned a few new tricks since then,_ she thought. Once she got out of the testing track, she would be happy to share them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All dice rolls were re-done. Everything was the same for the most part. Chell’s Child of the Warp effect was:
> 
> Haunting Breeze: Winds surround the psyker blowing light objects about within 10 meters
> 
> Rather than:
> 
> Unholy Stench: The air around the Psyker is permeated by a bizarre and foul smell
> 
> Which it was last time. She failed her first Fire Barrage roll, then failed again while Pushing. The psychic phenomenon caused by Pushing was:
> 
> Haunting Breeze: Winds whip up around the psyker for a few moments, blowing light objects around and guttering fires within 3d10 meters
> 
> Then she tried again, Pushing to up her PR by 3 this time, and finally succeeds. She causes Perils of the Warp again, this time being:
> 
> Chronological Incontinence: Time warps around the psyker. He winks out of existence and reappears in 1d10 rounds (for one minute in narrative time) in the exact location. He suffers one point of permanent Toughness and Intelligence damage as his body and mind rebel against the experience, and gains 1d5 Corruption Points.
> 
> So, this time she didn’t die. She lost one point of Toughness and Intelligence, but one point is no big deal. She did, however, gain some Corruption. That will be important later.


	5. Escape

Chell felt a headache coming on as she entered the 17th test chamber. At least there wasn’t constant wind whipping around anymore. Everything seemed to be normal for now, but that wasn’t exactly reassuring.

 ** _You have crossed a great threshold, my student,_** N’Kath rumbled in her mind, **_You have aligned your soul with the great god Tzeentch and have been blessed with a Chaos Organ._**

 _…What?_ Chell thought.

She heard a sigh in her head. **_Your soul has become entrenched in the Immaterium enough to align itself with one of the Chaos gods. Your thoughts, desires, and actions have led you to the service of Tzeentch. It is only natural that you would, knowingly or not, turn to him, since he is the patron god of sorcerers and the reason you have your powers._**

_Okay… But what exactly are Chaos gods?_

**_The Warp, as you know –_ **

_You never actually explained what the Warp or the Immaterium or whatever is, just that I use my powers by drawing from it somehow_ , Chell pointed out.

 ** _Ah. Very well, I shall explain that, too. The Immaterium, or the Warp, is also known as the Realm of Souls. It is shaped by the minds of every soul bearing species in the galaxy – humans, Eldar, Orks, and so on,_** N’Kath explained, **_When you broke the Silica Animus’ eye, you caused a peril of the Warp that allowed you and those around you look into the Warp._**

Chell paused just as she was about to finish the test. It was taking her much longer to solve than normal with her attention divided between the test and the voice in her head. _That horrible place is the Warp?!_

**_As I said, it is a reflection of the minds of humans and other soul-bearing species. Every thought, emotion, desire, and fear you and every other human have ever had becomes reality in the Warp. Naturally, with so many conflicting ideas swirling inside of it, it has become terrifying and mind-breaking to all material beings exposed to it. However, that doesn’t mean it is all bad. The Chaos gods, the rulers of the Warp, are collective subconscious constructs created from mental aspects of all life in the galaxy. Our lord Tzeentch, for instance, represents change, which can be good or bad. Without him, there would be no progress nor hope. He is the Architect of Fate, and his great schemes touch every person in the galaxy, with all of us unknowingly working towards his goals._ **

Chell finally finished the test and stepped into the elevator, barely registering the fact that GLaDOS was saying something about a surprise, which is never a good sign. _Okay, but what about other gods?_

 ** _Nurgle represents the opposite of Tzeentch. He represents stagnancy, consistency, and endless cycles,_** N’Kath practically spat out these words, **_Not to mentions his followers are insufferably cheerful at all times…_**

 _He doesn’t sound bad. Isn’t consistency a good thing sometimes?_ she offered, trying not to make N’Kath angry like before.

 ** _To beings like you, yes, you do depend on consistency to survive,_** N’Kath conceded, **_since Nurgle is essentially nature itself. As servants of Tzeentch, he and his followers are our greatest enemies, however. Our allies, however, are Slaanesh and its followers. Slaanesh represents both pleasure and pain. It and its followers delight in causing the extremes of both in others._**

 _Wait… so they torture people for fun?_ she asked, horrified.

 ** _Yes, Slaanesh does cause a lot of suffering, but without it, there would be no joy either,_** N’Kath pointed out, **_and while all the Chaos gods compete and fight with each other, Tzeentch, Slaanesh, and their respective followers tend to get along more so than with the other two gods. When you leave this place, you will have no choice but to find allies with Slaaneshi worshippers just as much as fellow Tzeentchien worshippers._**

 _Al... alright,_ Chell relented, _Moving on, then…_

**_The final Chaos god is Khorn, who represents war, strength, and blood. Like Nurgle, he and his followers are our enemies. However, we oppose Nurgle more, since he is our polar opposite._ **

_Is there anything redeeming about him?_ Chell asked, _All the others had something good about them._

 ** _Hmm. Without Khorn, there would be no strength to fight injustice, and neither he nor his followers would ever lie or try to trick you,_** N’Kath replied.

The elevator came to a halt. GLaDOS was oddly silent as Chell headed up the stairs. The door at the top of the stairs opened to reveal a dark room with a single light not strong enough to illuminate anything within it. Chell paused outside, remembering that the AI had promised a surprise. Knowing it was a trap, she braced herself and stepped inside, prepared to use her new abilities to escape whatever waited for her.

The small light went out. “Initiating surprise in three… two… one,” GLaDOS counted down.

The room lit up fully, revealing… nothing.

“I made it all up.” An air horn played as confetti rained from an apparatus vent. “Surprise.”

Chell rolled her eyes and proceeded through the door on the far end of the room into the test chamber.

“Oh, come on… If it makes you feel any better, they abandoned you at birth, so I very seriously doubt they’d even want to see you,” GLaDOS said.

Chell had almost forgotten that this “surprise” was supposed to have something to do with her parents. She didn’t always pay attention to what GLaDOS said and had other things on her mind. Like the existence of Chaos gods, and the fact that she is apparently inadvertently worshipping one.

She solved the test and intentionally ignored GLaDOS as the AI pretended to call her parents. A thought occurred to her as she approached the elevator to the next test.

 _Didn’t you say something about a Chaos organ?_ she asked in her mind.

 ** _The gods will grant you gifts as you become more entrenched in the Warp. You were granted a Chaos Organ. A part of your brain mutated to become more like that of a daemon’s, improving your willpower,_** N’Kath explained.

_I… mutated? And what are daemons?_

**_They are offshoots of their respective gods. You saw some when you looked into the Warp after shooting the Silica Animus’ eye. Becoming entrenched in the Warp will cause your body to change. These changes are Gifts of the Gods. That mutation to that small part of your brain improves your willpower._ **

Chell didn’t like the idea of her body randomly changing on a whim, but if what N’Kath said is true, she didn’t know if she could do anything about it. The elevator suddenly slowed way down, and the elevator shaft opened up to reveal the blue-eyed core.

“Hey! How’s it going! I talked my way onto the ol’ nanobot work crew rebuilding this shaft. They are _really_ small so-“ he began before he was interrupted by a high-pitched noise that sounded a bit like a voice sped up to the point of being incomprehensible, “I _know_ , Jerry. No, I’m on a _break_ , mate. On a break,” he explained as “Jerry” continued to interrupt and talk over him. He hit a beam as he followed the elevator down and let out a cry of pain before continuing, “Just hang in there for five more-“ Jerry interrupted again, even higher pitched than before, “What? Jerry, you can’t fire me for that!” Jerry spoke again. “Yes, _Jerry_ , OR, maybe your prejudiced worksite should have accommodated a nanobot of my size. Thanks for the hate crime, Jer! See you in court, mate.” He turned back to Chell, “Anyway, look, just hang in there for five more chambers,” he promised as the elevator sped back up and he vanished from sight.

Chell breezed through the next few test chambers. She didn’t spot any more hidden away areas where she could practice her abilities in secret, nor did she speak with her tutor. The quiet in her mind allowed her to process what she had recently learned, not that it made much sense.

“I have a surprise for you after this next test,” GLaDOS announced, sounding far, _far_ too happy as Chell entered Test Chamber 21, “Not a fake, tragic surprise like last time. A _real_ surprise, with _tragic consequences_ ,” she went on, her voice dripping with sadistic glee, “And real confetti this time! The good stuff. Our last bag. Part of me is going to miss it, but at the end of the day, it was just taking up space.”

The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she cautiously began solving the test. Not far into it, the chamber went dark.

“What’s going on? Who turned off the lights?” GLaDOS asked, sounding confused.

Panels near the entrance moved aside and the blue core entered the chamber. “Hey, buddy!” he called, speaking with a weird accent, “I’m speaking in an accent that is beyond her range of hearing!”

“Look, metal ball, I _can_ hear you,” GLaDOS corrected, annoyed.

“Run! I don’t need to do the voice. RUN!” he yelled, as more panels opened up and the hard-light bridge reactivated, allowing Chell to leave the test chamber and make it to a catwalk outside before the bridge switched back off. “Come on! Come on! _RUN!_ Come on! I’m closing the doors!” he ordered.

Chell rushed down the catwalk with the core following close behind, yelling, “Okay, quick recap: We are escaping! That’s what’s happening now: we’re escaping. So you’re doing great. Just keep running!”

 _You don’t need to tell me,_ Chell thought to herself as she kept running.

“Uhh, quick word about the future plans that I’ve got in store,” the core continued, “We’re going to shut down her turret production line, turn off her neurotoxin, and then confront her. Again, though, for the moment, RUN!”

As she followed the core, she leapt off the catwalk and ran along the top of a chamber.

“The irony is that you were almost at the last test,” GLaDOS said, sounding nonchalant. The panels making up the walls of a neighboring chamber opened up. There was a simple test inside with a single button, a cube that dropped directly onto said button, a series of panels on one wall making a heart shape, and a hard-light bridge spanning the gap between the roof of the chamber she was on and the test. “Here it is. Why don’t you just do it? Trust me, it’s an easier way out than whatever asinine plan your friend came up with.”

“Oh, what? How stupid does she think we are?” said the core with a chuckle.

Chell followed the bridge in the opposite direction. It turned off, dropping her onto a catwalk, where she turned and kept going while the core goaded her on. She stepped off the catwalk onto an area between two chambers. Mechanical arms appeared, grabbed panels along the sides of the area, trapping her inside with a few turrets.

Without pausing, she summoned a ball of fire and shot a Fire Bolt at the closest turret.

“I’m on fire. It bur-“ the turret said before exploding.

For a split second, the world around her morphed and she found herself once again looking into the Warp. Unlike last time, it vanished as quickly as it came. Shaking it off, she shot two more Fire Bolts at the two remaining turrets, who also exploded.

“ _What the hell was that?_ And were those turrets exploding?” the core yelped from outside, “A bit late for this, but watch out for turrets! Probably doesn’t help at this point, but I have at least tried.”

She extinguished the flame and portaled out of the room. “You’re okay! Great! Come on!” the core praised. She followed him along another catwalk.

“Turret!” he warned as they rounded a corner as panels moved aside, showing a turret.

She quickly used Manifest Flame and then shot Fire Bolt at the turret, destroying it, and kept running. They followed the catwalk into an open area.

“There’s the exit! We’re almost out of here!” the core exclaimed.

At that moment, test chambers on both sides began to surge forward, destroying everything in their path. “She’s bringing the whole place down! Hurry!” he yelled, “HURRY! THIS WAY!”

She followed him to the other side of the area. “Get in the lift! _Get in the lift!_ ” he frantically cried as she dove into it, “We made it we made it we made it we made it…” She watched, heart pounding, as the test chambers crashed together outside the lift as it slowly rose, the sound of screeching metal almost deafening. “I’ll meet you on the other side!” the core yelled over the noise.

Chell took a few deep breaths to try to calm her nerves as she stepped out of the lift. She followed a hallway to a catwalk where she met back up with the core.

“Brilliant, you made it through! Well done!” he praised, “Follow me, we’ve still got work to do. At least she can’t touch us back here.”

The lights above them suddenly began to go out. “What’s happening? Um. Hmm… Okay. Okay, uh, don’t move!” he said as the two were plunged into darkness. “Okay. Alright. So, I’ve got an idea. But it is bloody dangerous. Here we go…” he started. Chell thought for a moment, then decided to simply use Manifest Flame. The core screamed as if in great pain as bright light burst from his optic. “Oh for God’s… They told me that…” he trailed off as he noticed the ball of flame hovering harmlessly over Chell’s hand. “How… how are you…” he stammered. Chell simply stared at him intensely, the glow from the fire giving her an eerie appearance. “N-nevermind,” he said in a soft whimper, his optic shrunk to a tiny pinprick.

They continued in silence, their way lit by both the core’s flashlight and Chell’s fire, passing a stopped conveyor belt littered with pieces of broken robots on the way, followed by a functional conveyer belt where mechanical arms soldered what looked like massive circuits. Then they entered a room crisscrossed with pipes carrying cubes, turrets, and other items. Soon after, the pair came across an area where turrets were being constructed before reaching an open area with a pipe forming a large spiral downward. The catwalk they had been following had ended, broken, leaving the pipe as the only way down for Chell.

“I’m… going to take this rail down the back way,” the core said, “See you at the bottom, good luck.”

Chell extinguished her flame, jumped down onto the pipe, and followed the spiral down, ending up in a hallway labelled “FACTORY.” She crossed over a couple conveyor belts carrying broken turrets into what looked like incinerators while the announcer voice told her to “exit the turret redemption line.” On the second conveyor belt, she spotted a turret that still seemed somewhat functional. 

“I’m different…” it said softly. She decided to pick it up. “Thank you!” the turret said. A few moments later, as she was getting off the belt and looking for a place to set it back down, it continued, “Get mad! Don’t make lemonade!” Chell paused, finding this odd. “Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving the gift of knowledge to man. He was cast into the bowels of the earth and pecked by birds,” the turret went on, “It won’t be enough. We will burn either way. There is no true escape. It’s all part of the Great Schemer’s plan.” _Great Schemer?_ Chell thought, _N’Kath, didn’t you say something about Tzeentch having great schemes?_

 ** _Hmm,_** came the only replay.

“Her name is Caroline,” the turret added, “Remember that! That’s all I can say.” Chell set the turret down on the catwalk and continued on.

She entered an observation room where she could watch turrets moving along a conveyor belt stop briefly in front of a mannequin and shoot at it before continuing. Some turrets, though, were missing their white casings, couldn’t shoot, and, oddly, spoke with a snarky male voice instead of a child-like female one. 

She waited until she saw one of the defective turrets come along to avoid getting shot as she portalled into the room behind the mannequin. She waited for another defective turret before portalling to a back area where she could move on to the next area.

Chell soon found where the conveyor belt of turrets led; a place where the defective turrets were tossed away while the normal ones moved on. 

“Ah! Brilliant, you made it through, well done,” the core greeted her, “Follow me! You’re gonna love this,” he promised.

She followed him into a room overlooking the turret line. “Tadah! Only the turret control center. Thank you very much,” he announced proudly, “See that scanner out there?” he asked, nodding towards the scanner on the turret line, “It’s deciding which turrets to keep and which to toss. And it’s using that master turret there as a template!” he said, indicating the turret in a small room, “If we pull out the template turret, it’ll shut down the whole production line.” The core looked quite smug as he explained this. “Right, um. Hmm. I’m gonna have to hack the door so we can get at it,” he said.

Chell decided not to wait for that. She looked at the door and used Force Bolt to shatter the glass.

“ _What the –_ oh, er, never mind,” he said sheepishly, “What’s… what’s important is it’s open… Just pull that turret out.”

Chell portalled into the small room and grabbed the turret. “Well, that should do it!” the core said.

“Template missing. Continuing from memory,” came the announcer voice.

“Ohhh, it hasn’t done it,” the core said, dejected, “Right, let’s figure out how to stop this turret line… Have you got any ideas?”

Chell watched the turret line for a moment, then stepped outside the room.

“Wait, where’re you going? Where’re you going? Oh, have you got an idea?” the core called after her.

Back out on the catwalk, she saw a defective turret get tossed, and used Precision Telekinesis to catch it and bring it to her. “Oh, thank God, you saved my bacon, pal!” said the broken turret, “Where are we going? Is this a jail-break? Can’t see a thing!”

She carried the turret back to the room. “What do you have there?” the blue-eyed core asked as she arrived with the turret and put in place of the master turret. “What are you… Oh, brilliant! That’s brilliant!”

“New template accepted,” said the announcer. Now, the working turrets were being tossed and the defective ones were let through. 

“If we’re lucky, she won’t find out all her turrets are crap until it’s too late,” the core said with a chuckle, “Classic. Okay, keep your eye on the turret line. I’m gonna go and hack the door open.” Chell waited, watching the line. “Okay, I’m about to start hacking. It’s a little more complicated than it looked from your side. It should take about ten minutes. Keep one eye on the door.”

Chell heard the door open and walked on through. “This door’s actually pretty complicated,” the core went on, not noticing. “Ah!” he yelped in surprise when she approached from behind him, “How long’s the door been open? And… do you have to be so creepy all the ti- er, you know what, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is it’s open.”

Chell tilted her head at him, then moved on with the core close behind on the management rail.

“Alright, now. She can’t use her turrets. So let’s go and take care of that neurotoxin generator as well,” the core said. She nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a better explanation of the Warp and Chaos Gods in WH40K, look up “If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device” on Youtube, specifically episode 19, “Warp Grumbling.”
> 
> In Black Crusade, characters gain Corruption Points for various things. Once they hit 10, 20, 40, 60, and 80 Corruption Points, they check alignment and get a Gift of the Gods. Certain skills, characteristics, and talents in the game are associated with one of the Chaos gods with the rest being unaligned. Purchasing one of these with experience points gives you one point toward the god associated with it. When you hit the Corruption Point thresholds above, you become aligned with one of the gods if you have five more points towards that god than any other god. If that’s not the case for any of the gods, you stay unaligned. Alignment affects how much XP characteristic advancements, skills, and talents cost, with stuff associated with your god costing less and stuff associated with enemy gods costing more. It also affects what psychic powers and other things you have access to. So, last chapter, Chell got enough Corruption points to bring her total to 11, crossing a threshold. I spent quite a bit of her XP on making sure she would wind up aligned with Tzeentch, even if those skills would not be useful given what I am doing with this fic. To figure out what Gift of the Gods a character gets (which are just weird, not always helpful mutations), roll a d100 and consult the Gift of the Gods chart in the rule book. For Chell, I rolled a 24, which corresponds to the Chaos Organ mutation. The Chaos Organ allows a character to pick one of the following: Unnatural Characteristic (+1) (any one), Natural Weapons, or Heightened Senses (any one). The player and the Game Master must then figure out what daemonic organ gave the character this trait. For Chell, it made the most sense to pick Unnatural Willpower (+1) since she is a psyker. Her Willpower characteristic is the same (66 now rather than 61 since she spent XP on increasing it after last chapter) but her Willpower bonus is now 7 instead of the usual 6. If she succeeds a on a Willpower test, she gets an extra degree of freedom. Since this trait is related to willpower, it only made sense that part of her brain mutated. Checking alignment and applying mutations will occur between chapters. If Chell crosses a Corruption point threshold in the middle of a chapter, it won’t have any affect until the beginning of the next chapter.
> 
> The psychic phenomenon she caused after shooting Fire Bolt at that first turret was: 
> 
> Shadow of the Warp: For a split second, the world changes in appearance, and everyone within 1d100 meters has brief but horrific glimpse of the shadow of the warp. Everyone in the area (including the psyker) must make a Difficult (–10) Willpower Test or gain 1d5 Corruption Points.
> 
> Chell passed her Willpower Test, so she didn’t gain Corruption points from this. Wheatley failed his and got 1 Corruption Point, though I don’t think Corruption can really affect him. Your soul can’t become entrenched in the Warp if you’re a machine without a soul, after all.


	6. Blood and Fury

As Chell and the core moved away from the turret control center, the temperature suddenly dropped and frost formed over every surface around them.

 _Great. Ice again,_ Chell thought, shivering. The core kept glancing back at her as they walked, his optic smaller than usual.

They passed a room with several potato batteries on display with posters clearly made by young children. “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day,” the core read, “That did not end well. And… forty potato batteries. Embarrassing. I mean, I realize they’re children. But still, you know, low hanging fruit and all that. Barely science really, is it?” 

They left the room and made their way down catwalks into the neurotoxin generator room. With little difficulty, Chell destroyed it by cutting the pipes connected to it. The generator imploded, breaking the tube in the adjacent room.

“HA! The tube’s broken! We can ride it straight to her!” the core exclaimed, “I can’t hold on! Come on! Come on! We have to go!” Chell entered the room and was immediately sucked into the tube along with him.

The pair flew through the pipe, ice covering the inside and out.

“This should take us right to her. I can’t believe I’m finally doing this!” the core said excitedly, “Woooo! I _knew_ this would be fun! They told me it wasn’t fun at all, they said ‘It’s not fun at all!’ and I _believed_ ‘em! I’m loving this! Whale of a time!”

The tube carried them into an open area, with tubes going in all directions. “This place is huge, and we’re only seeing the top layer. It goes down for _miles_! All sealed off years ago, of course,” he explained, “We should be getting close. Ohh, I can’t wait to see the look on her face. No neurotoxin, no turrets, she’ll never know what hit her! Especially if you use your, ah, you know…” He chuckled nervously. Their pipe intersected another, and the core was knocked into the second one by a cube. “Aggh! I’m going the wrong way! Get to her! I’ll find you!”

The tube deposited Chell on a catwalk. She made her way up a set of stairs into a destroyed hallway, with one part leading into open space. In the distance, she saw the massive cylindrical shape of the Central AI Chamber, with the glass hallway that once connected to it completely broken off. Near it, a flickering light illuminated a white surface. With nowhere else to go, she portaled over to it, falling into a small room with no portable surfaces she could use to escape back out and a door labelled “GLaDOS EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN AND CAKE DISPENSARY. KEEP UNLOCKED.” Knowing it was a trap, but with nowhere else to go, Chell braced herself and opened the door. It fell over with bare wall behind it.

“I honestly, _truly_ didn’t think you’d fall for that,” GLaDOS taunted as the panels making up the walls began to move, scraping over the frost and shrinking the room, “In fact, I devised a much more elaborate trap further ahead, for when you got through this easy one. If I’d known you’d let yourself get captured this easily, I would have just dangled a turkey leg on a rope from the ceiling.”

The floor slid open, forcing Chell into a Relaxation Vault below, which began to move forward.

“Well, it was nice catching up. Let’s get to business.”

The panels moved aside to reveal the AI glowering down at her as the vault moved her inside the chamber. The frost had already spread across most of the chamber and reached the very back as Chell entered. It was even starting to cover GLaDOS herself. The panels reformed the wall behind her.

“I hope you brought something stronger than a portal gun this time,” GLaDOS said, apparently ignoring the ice for now, “Otherwise, I’m afraid you’re about to become the immediate past president of the Being Alive club. Ha ha.” Mechanical arms lowered turrets that surrounded the vault Chell was trapped in. “Seriously, though. Goodbye.”

Chell smirked as the defective turrets tried to shoot, but caught on fire and exploded one by one, leaving the glass walls cracked, but not broken yet.

“Oh. You were busy back there,” the AI remarked, still calm, “Well. I suppose we could just sit in this room and glare at each other until somebody drops dead, but I have a better idea. It’s your old friend, deadly neurotoxin. If I were you, I’d take a deep breath. And hold it.”

A tube entered the chamber from the back, curved around, and broke into the side of the vault. Of course, no neurotoxin came out. Instead, the core tumbled through the tube and fell into her vault, shattering the glass the rest of the way.

“I hate you so much.”

 ** _Student._** Chell jumped. It had been a while since her mysterious teacher had spoken to her. **_Look at these two machines through the Warp. What difference do you see?_**

Chell closed her eyes to concentrate. Radiating from GLaDOS was an aura of hatred. From the core… nothing.

 ** _I have seen a great many things in this galaxy and never have I seen a Silica Animus with a presence in the Warp,_** N’Kath explained.

 _What does that mean, exactly?_ Chell asked.

**_That machine has a soul._ **

_WHAT?!_

**_Try to find out why. I want to know,_** the voice ordered.

_…How?_

**_Use your abilities to read its mind. Perhaps it knows. If it didn’t have a soul, you wouldn’t be able to do that. But since it does have one, you can._ **

Chell drew deeply from the Warp to increase her power. She looked up, locking eyes with her enemy, who glared down at her. She reached into GLaDOS’ mind, finding some resistance, but forced her way through. The AI recoiled in response like she’d been struck with a gasp of surprise. Chell gained some basic knowledge of her target, much of which she already knew. She was the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, her mood was currently enraged, her physical body was in good shape, but there was a message saying she was 80% corrupt. 

With little trouble, Chell broke through another layer of defenses and the AI’s surface thoughts entered her mind. Most of it was… graphic depictions of her death. GLaDOS was currently imagining various violent methods of killing her, which Chell didn’t find surprising, though quite disturbing. Aside from that, the AI was confused about the frost covering every surface of her chamber, and suspected Chell has something to do with it. She was also mildly concerned about the system telling her she was 80% corrupt when she felt fine. 

Another layer down, Chell found GLaDOS’ recent memories, which was mostly of her testing from the perspective of GLaDOS’ cameras. As she expected, the AI simply doesn’t remember the time Chell accidentally made the Warp visible shortly after GLaDOS reawakened. She couldn’t figure out why; the memory simply wasn’t there. After everything she’s experienced since then, Chell was certain it had actually happened.

Chell made her way through another layer of defenses and information on the ever-changing layout of Aperture began to flood her mind. In addition to that, she saw GLaDOS’ memories from further back, including some memories from before she flooded the facility with neurotoxin and killed almost everyone inside. The amount of information was starting to become too much, but she pushed on anyway.

She finally broke through GLaDOS’ last layer of defense. Her mind was now an open book – and the amount of knowledge found there was completely overwhelming. Scientific knowledge, history, blueprints over every piece of technology Aperture has ever created, all of GLaDOS’ memories… it was like she swan-dived into an ocean of information and immediately got tossed around by the currents. She had no idea how long she was lost in there before she managed to throw herself out of GLaDOS’ mind.

Chell fell to her knees, her head pounding. She closed her eyes and clutched her head as equations she didn’t truly understand swirled in her head. After a moment, she felt warm liquid start to soak through her pants. Looking down, she saw small pools of red liquid bubble up through the layer of frost on the floor. Looking around, she saw that blood was now seeping from the panels making up the walls, floor, and ceiling, initially warm, melting through the frost before freezing. GLaDOS was completely limp, her optic flickering, but after a moment she lifted herself up, shaking her head from side to side with a groan. She quickly examined the state of her chamber before locking her gaze on Chell.

“ _You._ What _are_ you?” she hissed. 

“What happened? Wha-what’d you do this time?” the core asked.

“This time? You _are_ behind all the strange things that have been happening, aren’t you?” she said accusingly. 

“Please deposit substitute core in receptacle to initiate a core transfer,” came the announcer.

“He’s been saying that for the past couple minutes while you two were… um…” the core explained, “So, uh, here’s an idea: plug me in!”

“Core transfer? Oh, you are kidding me. Don’t you _dare_ plug that little idiot into _my_ mainframe,” GLaDOS warned.

“No, you should plug that little idiot into the mainframe!” the core countered.

Chell got her feet, her head still pounding. _Ohm’s Law states that the current between two points is proportional to the voltage between those two points, with the constant of proportionality being resistance_. She picked up the core and made her way to the receptacle.

“Don’t. Do it,” GLaDOS warned again.

“Don’t listen to her, do it. Do it!” the core pressed.

“Substitute core accepted,” said the announcer after Chell plugged him in, “Substitute core, are you ready to start the procedure?”

“Yes!” the core replied.

“Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?”

“No!” GLaDOS protested.

“Ohhhhhh, yes she is!”

“Nonononononono!”

“Stalemate detected. Transfer Procedure cannot continue,” came the announcer.

“Yes!” GLaDOS cheered.

“Pull me out pull me out pull me out!” the core began yelling desperately.

“…Unless a stalemate associate is present to press the stalemate resolution button,” the announcer continued before Chell could pick up the core.

“Leave me in! Leave me in! Go press it!” the core commanded.

“Don’t press that button. You don’t know what you’re doing,” GLaDOS warned.

“I think she’s lying…” the core whispered loudly.

Chell made a dash for the button, but was thrown back by a panel.

“Not so fast!” GLaDOS said, “Think about this. You need to be a trained stalemate associate to press that button. You’re unqualified.”

Chell started to make her way back to the button, then stopped, giving GLaDOS a smirk. She used telekinesis to press the button from where she stood.

“AHH!” GLaDOS yelped in surprise and went limp.

“Stalemate Resolved.”

“Here we go!” the core cheered as the receptacle slowly descended into the floor, “Wait, what if this hurts? What if it _really_ hurts? Ohhh, I didn’t think of that.”

“Oh, it will,” GLaDOS answered, “Believe me, it will.”

“Are you just saying that, or is it really going to hurt?” he asked, “You’re just saying that aren’t you? No, you’re not. It is going to hurt, isn’t it? Exactly how painful are tal- AGHHHHH!” He was interrupted by his own scream of pain.

The area beneath GLaDOS opened up an several mechanical arms reached for her face.

“ _Get your hands off me! No! Stop! No!_ ” Her voice rapidly changed from seething with anger to desperate. A wall of panels rose up to conceal the procedure. “No! _No! No!_ ” She let out a scream of agony.

The panels on the walls went limp and the chamber went dark. Then, the panels covering the central chassis lowered, the wall panels righted themselves, and the core, now placed on the chassis, spun triumphantly. GLaDOS’ head had been unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

“Wooooow! Check me out, partner!” the core exclaimed, “We did it! I’m in control of the whole facility now! Whoa-ho-ho! Would you look at this! Not too bad, eh? Giant robot, massive! It’s not just me, right? I’m bloody massive, aren’t I? Oh, right! The escape lift! I’ll call it now.”

**_That lift will be useless. There are many layers of concrete between the roof of this place and the underhive above you._ **

Chell approached the lift, unsure if she should believe him. He had been right so far about her powers, but there was no way to prove if he was telling the truth about the surface without seeing it for herself.

**_As a final test of worthiness, kill that normal Silica Animus you just put in power and retrieve the other one on the floor._ **

The core was still celebrating his victory. Chell hesitated, but then stepped into the elevator.

 ** _Are you defying me?_** N’Kath hissed.

 _I have to see it for myself_ , Chell answered, _And I’m not killing him after he helped me_.

**_You will regret this, mortal._ **

“Let me tell ya, I knew it was gonna be cool being in charge of everything, but wow, this is cool!” the core said happily, “And check this out! I’m a bloody genius now! Estás usando este software de traducción de forma incorrecta. Por favor, consulta el manual. I don’t even know what I just said, but I can find out! Oh! Sorry. The lift. Sorry. I keep forgetting.” The lift finally began ascending. “This body is amazing, seriously!” the core went on, “I can’t get over how small you are! But I’m huge!” 

He started laughing. It quickly became maniacal. “Actually, why do we have to leave right now?” he said as the lift began descending and the chamber grew dark. His tone suddenly became darker. “Do you have any idea how good this feels? I did this! Tiny little Wheatley did this!”

“…You didn’t do anything,” GLaDOS said weakly, “She did all the work.”

“Oh, really? That’s what the two of you think, is it?” Wheatley said threateningly, “Well, maybe it’s time I did something then.”

GLaDOS’ head was pulled into the pit below Wheatley. “…What are you doing? _No!_ _No! No!_ ”

“And don’t think I’m not onto you too, lady,” Wheatley turned his attention back to Chell, trapped in the elevator. The lights on the panels turned red, and they flipped up to look like they were staring at her. Sparks flew from the pit GLaDOS was dragged into. “You know what you are? Selfish. I’ve done nothing but sacrifice to get us here! What have you sacrificed?” 

_I’ve put my life on the line several times_ , Chell thought, glaring at him.

**_You should have killed him when you had the chance. But you didn’t want to hurt your friend, did you?_ **

“ _Nothing_. Zero. All you’ve done is _boss me around_. Well, _now_ who’s the boss? Who’s the boss?” he said with a quiet, dark voice. He brought his optic close to the elevator. “It’s me!”

There was a ding and the pit opened again. A mechanical arm carrying a potato with a yellow optic emerged. “See that?” Wheatley asked, bringing it close to the elevator, “That is a potato battery. It’s a toy for children. And now she lives in it!” He chuckled.

“I know you,” GLaDOS’ small voice came from the potato.

“Sorry, what?”

“The engineers tried everything to make me… behave. To slow me down,” GLaDOS explained, “Once, they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere on me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas.”

“No! I’m not listening! I’m not listening!” Wheatley insisted, suddenly appearing insecure.

“It was _your_ voice,” GLaDOS revealed.

“No! No! You’re _lying_!” Wheatley insisted, “You’re _lying_!”

“Yes. You’re the tumor. You’re not just a regular moron. You were _designed_ to be a moron.”

“I am _NOT! A MORON!_ ” Wheatley screamed. The arm smacked GLaDOS against the elevator glass, cracking it.

“ _YES YOU ARE!_ ” GLaDOS pressed, “ _YOU’RE THE MORON THEY BUILT TO MAKE ME AN IDIOT!”_

Wheatley smashed her through the glass into the elevator with Chell. “Well, how about now? NOW WHO’S A MORON?” The mechanical arm began slamming into the top of the elevator, pushing it farther and farther down. “Could a MORON PUNCH! YOU! INTO! THIS! PIT? Huh? Could a moron do _that_?”

The elevator shuddered. “Uh oh,” Wheatley said. The elevator’s floor gave out and Chell and GLaDOS both fell.

* * *

“Oh, hi,” GLaDOS said as they both rapidly plummeted, “So. How are you holding up? _Because I’m a potato_.”

A slow clap emitted from her tiny speakers.

“Oh, good. My slow clap processor made it into this thing. So we have that,” GLaDOS said dryly, “Since it doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere… Well, we are going somewhere. Alarmingly fast, actually. But since we’re not busy other than that, here’s a couple of facts. He’s not just a regular moron. He’s the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together with the express purpose of building the dumbest moron who ever lived. And you just put him charge of the entire facility.”

There was more clapping.

“Good, that’s still working.”

She was quiet for a moment.

“Hey, just in case this pit isn’t actually bottomless, do you think maybe you could unstrap one of those long fall boots of yours and shove me into it?” she asked, “Just remember to land on one foot.”

A few moments later, the two of them slammed into wooden beams blocking the shaft, and Chell was knocked out.

* * *

_Chell found herself staring up at an avian creature that towered above her. Its arms and legs were long and thin, and it had massive wings sprouting from its shoulders. The feathers of its wings shimmered a multitude of colors, more than Chell could comprehend. It had a bird like head with a large, hooked beak at the end of its long, crooked neck. It seemed to barely be able to support its own weight, leaning heavily on a massive staff and hunching its shoulders. It had clawed hands and ferocious talons on its feet. Draped over its shoulders were what looked like the robes of some kind of priest. Simply looking at it made reality seem to slip away and brought everything Chell thought to be true into question. Her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. She looked at the ground as she could no longer stand looking at the creature without losing her mind._

**_I have been very patient with you, recognizing that you are wholly ignorant on all things outside this facility,_ ** _N’Kath’angoras’ voice thundered in Chell’s mind. **I am only helping you because you were born tens of thousands of years ago, long before psykers appeared amongst your kind, and yet are a psyker. I want you as part of my collection, you and the Silica Animus with a soul. But I don’t necessarily need you alive to put you on display or study you. Prove your loyalty and worthiness to me as a servant, and I will let you live as one of my champions. Your orders are to put the Silica Animus with a soul back in its original body. I will not add a root vegetable to my collection. Do you understand? Say ‘yes, master.’**_

_Chell remained quiet. A sudden, sharp pain knocked the breath out of her. Then, it came again, and again, growing worse each time._

_“…Y-yes… master…”_

* * *

Chell opened her eyes and looked up at the elevator shaft she fell out of. A bird pecked at the potato battery in its talons for a bit before flying off with it, cawing. Chell stood up, grabbed her portal gun, and began making her way through the decrepit underbelly of the facility. She had no idea where she was going, but kept moving forward regardless. After a while, she came upon a massive vault door, opened it, and passed through the tiny door behind it.

She passed by massive metal spheres, taking a moment to look up at them in awe. Then, she found a lever that was labelled as the power breaker for the area ahead of her behind a door sealed shut. Pulling it and proceeding through the door, the lights flickered on, music played, and an unfamiliar male voice spoke from the speakers.

“Welcome, gentleman, to Aperture Science. Astronauts, war heroes, Olympians – you’re here because we want the best, and you are it. So, who is ready to make some science?” said the male voice.

“I am!” a female voice chimed in.

“Haha! Now, you already met one another on the limo ride over, so let me introduce myself. I’m Cave Johnson. I own the place,” the male voice announced proudly. “That eager voice you heard is the lovely Caroline, my assistant. Rest assured, she has transferred your honorarium to the charitable organization of your choice. Isn’t that right, Caroline?”

“Yes sir, Mr. Johnson.”

“She’s the backbone of this facility. Pretty as a postcard, too. Sorry fellas. She’s married. To science.”

She made her way through a lobby where Cave explained that pre-recorded messages would guide people through the upcoming tests. Chell wasn’t exactly surprised when, after a few more minutes of navigating through the old, broken-down facility, she found herself in yet another set of test chambers, turning on some kind of pump along the way. Luckily, the test chambers were functional enough and she could make her way higher up by solving them. Wherever she could, she used her psychic powers to cheat. She couldn’t help but feel a smug thrill from skipping parts of the tests with her new abilities, even though she really only used Mind Over Matter to move cubes off ledges and such rather than use her portal gun or the repulsion gel to reach them. After solving a few tests, she activated another pump station and found herself in an open area overlooked by a building with the words “CONTROL ROOM” at the top. The elevator she needed to proceed was out of reach, so she made her way into the control room. Inside, she was met with a strange sight.

“Oh, hi,” GLaDOS called. She was sitting in a bird’s nest with a bird perched over her. “Say, you’re good at murder. Could you – ow! – murder this bird for me?”

Chell, amused, watched the bird peck at her from the other side of the glass for a moment, but then felt a sudden, sharp pain in her head. _Pi bonds are covalent bonds in which two lobes of one atomic orbital of one atom overlap laterally with two lobes of an orbital of the other atom._ She shook her head. Reading that AI’s mind was a mistake. She tried to focus and use Precision Telekinesis to take care of the bird. Unfortunately, the power failed, causing psychic phenomenon that made her appearance become daemonic for a brief moment.

“Yes, I know you – ow! – have freaky powers. Can you stop messing around and help me?” GLaDOS said, unimpressed.

Chell tried the ability again. This time, she succeeded. There was a sharp crack as the tiny bones in the bird’s neck broke as its head suddenly twisted to the side. The dead bird slumped onto the potato battery. 

“Er… thanks,” GLaDOS said, muffled by the dead bird’s body. Chell made her way into the small room GLaDOS was in and tossed the dead creature aside. Suddenly, the entire facility shook.

“Did you feel that? That idiot doesn’t know what he’s doing up there. This whole place is going to explode in a few hours if somebody doesn’t disconnect him,” GLaDOS explained, “I can’t move. And unless you’re planning to saw your own head off and wedge it into my old body, you’re going to need me to replace him. We’re at an impasse.” There was another tremor. “So what do you say? You carry me up to him and put me back into my body, and I stop us from blowing up and let you go.” Chell knew, thanks to N’Kath, that GLaDOS wouldn’t actually be able to release her whether she wanted to or not. Regardless, Chell still needed to put her back in her body as per his orders. Still, Chell decided to make sure the potato knew who she was dealing with. She used Manifest Flame to summon a small fireball in her hand and gave GLaDOS a warning glare.

“No tricks! This potato only generates 1.1 volts of electricity. I literally do not have the energy to lie to you!” GLaDOS quickly added.

Chell’s hair suddenly stood on end as she felt a hostile, powerful presence. There was a bestial bellowing outside.

 ** _You have incurred the wrath of Khorn and he has sent one of his servants, a Bloodletter, to put you in your place. Kill it_** , N’Kath ordered.

Chell grabbed the potato and stuck it on the end of her portal gun, ignoring her complaints. She ran out of the control room. Down below, in the larger open area, was a deep red, humanoid beast. Its head was elongated and horned and it wielded a massive sword.

“BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOOOD!!!” it roared as it ran towards the building she was standing on top of. Lucky for her, it would have to climb a fairly tall wall to get to her. She was able to fend of the fear that washed over her from looking at it, but GLaDOS made a fizzling sound and her optic went dark.

Acting on instinct, she cast a psychic power at it, but it failed. It tried to climb the wall, but could not find a grip on its flat surface.

“GET DOWN HERE YOU FUCKING COWARD!!” the daemon roared with rage as it repeatedly slid back down to the ground.

Chell tried the power again, and this time it worked. Barbed chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the daemon. It struggled to break free, but failed and was thoroughly ensnared. The barbs dug into the Bloodletter and even managed to rip open its stomach. **_Ah, you’ve figured out the Foul Cage technique,_** N’Kath commented.

The Bloodletter was still for a moment and appeared to be stunned. Chell took the opportunity to use Manifest Flame to summon fire. She tried to hit the creature with Fire Barrage, but the flames only sputtered. She tried again, same result. She could feel the daemon’s very presence interfering with her abilities. In frustration, she pushed herself, drawing more greedily from the Warp, and finally succeeded in blasting the creature with dozens of fireballs. Almost immediately afterward, there was strange burst of energy that burned her skin and knocked her backwards. Chell stood there helplessly, reeling from the blast.

Down below, the Bloodletter struggled to free itself from the chains, but only succeeded in injuring itself further from the barbs. “YOU MOTHERFUCKING PSYKERS AND YOUR BITCH-ASS PSYCHIC SHIT!! GET DOWN HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A TRUE WARRIOR!!” the Bloodletter thundered in fury.

With a mighty heave, the daemon managed to break free from the chains, but in doing so, shredded his body, leaving his skin in tatters. He clawed at the wall as his body began to fade away, bellowing “FUCKING PSYKERS AND YOUR COWARDLY-ASS MAGIC TRICKS!! DIDN’T EVEN LAND A SINGLE REAL ATTACK ON ME!! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED THIS WAY!! THIS IS BULLSHIIIIT!!!”

 ** _So uncivilized_** , N’Kath sighed as the Bloodletter vanished.

After a few moments, Chell managed to snap out of being stunned. _What happened? Did I kill it?_ she asked.

 ** _Killing a daemon is… tricky. Rather, you cast it back into the Immaterium from whence it came,_** her teacher replied. **_You’re lucky. If it didn’t so recklessly thrash around while ensnared by Foul Cage, it wouldn’t have hurt itself enough to be cast back into the Warp._**

Chell stood back up and looked down at the lower area, seeing no sign of the daemon. She also noticed that the lift had lowered itself and was now accessible via a portal fling. From there, she was able to make her way into an elevator.

* * *

**Another End of Chapter Note that is too long:**

**First and foremost, the part where Chell read GLaDOS’ mind. She used a power called Mind Probe. Mind Probe is an opposed Willpower test that goes for five rounds or until the target wins, whichever comes first. Being an opposed Willpower test means both the psyker and the target roll for Willpower and whoever rolls lowest compared to their score to beat wins. The more rounds the psyker wins, the deeper into the target’s mind the psyker goes. If the psyker wins five times in a row, the psyker gains total access to the target’s mind and all information within. If the target wins once before that, the target ejects the psyker from their mind. Like with normal psychic powers, though, Chell adds five points to her Willpower for each point of Psy Rating while GLaDOS gets no bonuses. Chell currently has a Willpower of 66 and a PR of 4 and she pushed to increase her PR by 3. In total, her score to beat is 101, which GLaDOS opposes with her Willpower of 60. This is very much rigged in Chell’s favor – she can roll higher than GLaDOS and still win. If, say, Chell rolled a 70 and GLaDOS rolled a 40, Chell would still win since she got 3 degrees of success while GLaDOS got 2. With this in mind, it’s not exactly surprising that Chell wins all five rounds and gets total access to GLaDOS’ mind.**

**Soooo, according to the rulebook, that’s it. Chell gets access to all the information in GLaDOS’ head. However, that’s a _lot_ of information, way more than you’d expect to find in a character’s head during a normal game of Black Crusade. So, as the GM (more or less), I decided it made sense for Chell to have to pass an Intelligence to test to see if she can sort through it all to find what she is looking for. Actually, I made it a Logic test since I had her put points into the Logic skill in order to align herself with Tzeentch. If she succeeded, she would have gotten the answers she was looking for. If she failed, she would wander lost in GLaDOS’ head for a while and come out with 1d10 Insanity. She failed the logic test and got 9 points of Insanity. She also gained the skill Scholastic Lore (Aperture), and no, Aperture is not one of the types of Scholastic Lore you can get in WH40K.**

**Since Chell pushed, she caused psychic phenomenon. That psychic phenomenon turned out to be:**

**Bloody Tears:** Blood weeps from stone and wood within 3d10 (8 + 6 + 8 = 22) meters of the psyker. If there are any pictures or statues of people inside this area, they appear to be crying blood.

**While the panels in the Central AI Chamber are probably not made of stone or wood, it would have been boring if nothing happened.**

**Not much interesting happened with the next few psychic powers Chell used, no psychic phenomena or anything that would require a new explanation.**

**When Chell finds GLaDOS, she tries to use Precision Telekinesis to snap the bird’s neck and fails the first time, causing psychic phenomenon:**

**Daemonic Mask:** For a fleeting moment, the psyker takes on a daemonic appearance and gains a Fear rating of 1 until the start of the next turn. However, he also gains one Corruption Point.

**GLaDOS passed her fear test and thus was unimpressed. Chell uses the power again and succeeds. After that, she uses Manifest Flame to threaten GLaDOS. She not only manages to cause psychic phenomena with that one little technique, she also manages to cause a Perils of the Warp:**

**Dark Summoning:** Khorne’s wrath swells at the arrogance of the psyker, and he sends a Bloodletter to deal with the fool. (see Chapter XI: Adversaries) The Bloodletter rips into existence within 3d10 meters of the psyker, for a number of rounds equal to 1d5 plus the daemon’s Toughness Bonus. The psyker’s turn immediately ends, and the Daemon may take its turn immediately. It detests the psyker and focuses all of its attacks upon the fool that unwittingly summoned it. It will not attack anyone else, even if others attack it.

**Now, we enter WH40K combat. Normally, the first step is to roll for initiative to determine the turn order. However, as the description above states, the daemon’s turn starts immediately, and we weren’t in combat before, so the turn order will be Bloodletter first, then Chell. The Bloodletter spawns 11 meters away from Chell. It has a Fear rating of 2, so both Chell and GLaDOS test Fear. Chell passes her fear test, but GLaDOS fails. Since she is in a potato and thinking too hard makes her shut down, I didn’t bother to roll for Shock and just made her shut down.**

**When it is a character’s turn in combat, he can take one Full Action, two Half Actions, and any number of free actions within reason. Characters do not have HP. Instead, they have a Wounds stat which is a threshold for how much damage they can take before it starts to adversely affect them. For example, Chell has 10 Wounds, so if she takes 10 damage, she’s fine. Once she takes an 11 th point, though, she takes a Critical Hit and Critical Hit effects are applied to her based on the type of damage (Rending, Impact, Explosive, etc.) and the body part hit.**

**Round 1** **  
**

**The Bloodletter spends a Full Action moving to the base of the building Chell is standing on top of.**

**Chell tries, but fails, to use Foul Cage, using a Full Action. She takes a -10 penalty to all Willpower tests due to the Bloodletter’s Daemonic Presence trait, not that it mattered here since she rolled a 100.**

**Round 2**

**The Bloodletter spends a Full Action trying to climb the wall. It’s a shear surface, so he has to perform a -10 Athletics test. He has a Strength of 42 and has the Athletics Skill known, so he has to roll a 32 or under to succeed. He rolls a 77 and fails.**

**Chell spends a Full Action successfully using Foul Cage, which causes ropes, chains, and/or barbed sinew to spring out of the ground, ensnare everything in its radius, and grow barbs that dig into their victims’ skin. It deals 1d10+3 Rending Damage with the Crippling (1d10), Snare (2), and Tearing qualities. First, we resolve the damage. The Tearing quality of Foul Cage means you roll an extra die when you roll damage and discard the lowest die. The highest of the two die rolls was a 10, so Chell dealt 13 damage. This is reduced, however, by the Bloodletter’s Toughness bonus of 8, so he takes 5 damage. Rolling a 10 for damage activates Zealous Hatred. The attacker rolls a 1d5 (I rolled 4) and consults the Critical Hit Table appropriate to the Damage type, rending in this case. The target suffers all effects listed, but does not count as having taken a Critical Hit. So, we go to the table for Rending Critical Effects – Body and look at the effect for 4 points of critical damage, which is:**

The blow opens up a long wound in the target’s torso, causing him to double over in terrible pain. The target suffers from Blood Loss and is Stunned for 1 Round.

**Bloodletters, however, have a trait called Blood for the Blood God, which makes them immune to critical hit effects involving gore and blood. I’m not sure how to interpret this since almost all critical hit effects involve gore and blood, so I decided to have the Bloodletter get stunned but not suffer from Blood Loss. Now, we roll 1d10 to determine the level of Crippling and get 8. When a character is under the effects of Crippling, they take rending damage equal to the level of crippling if they do more than a Half Action during their turn. This damage is not reduced by armor or Toughness, and the effects last until the encounter ends or the target is fully healed. Finally, Foul Cage has the Snare (2) quality, which means that the Bloodletter must pass an Agility test with a -20 penalty or be immobilized. His Agility is 40, so he had to roll under a 20 to succeed, but rolled a 74 and failed.**

**Round 3**

**The Bloodletter is stunned and can’t do anything. However, he has the Warp Instability trait, which means that if he takes damage and does not deal damage by the end of its next turn, he must pass a Willpower Test or take 1d5 damage plus one damage or each degree of failure. The Bloodletter failed his Willpower test by 3 degrees, rolled a 5 damage, so he took 8 damage.**

**Chell spends a Half Action using Manifest Flame and succeeds. Fire Barrage, weirdly, is a Free Action. She failed using it twice – she needed to roll a 76 or under and rolled over 80 twice. So, she used it one more time while pushing for +2 PR to counteract the -10 penalty from Daemonic Presence and finally succeeded… with a 74. Fire Barrage deals 1d10 + Psy Rating damage; she rolled a 5 with a PR of 6 for 11 damage total, which was reduced to 3 by the Bloodletter’s Toughness Bonus of 8. Since she pushed, she must roll for psychic phenomenon. She ended up causing another Perils of the Warp:**

**Warp Burn:** A violent burst of energy from the warp smashes into the psyker’s mind, sending him reeling. He suffers 2d5 wounds, ignoring Toughness Bonus and Armor, and is stunned for 1d5 Rounds.

**She took 8 damage and got stunned for 5 rounds.**

**Round 4**

**The Bloodletter spends a Full Action trying to free himself from the chains with a Strength test, which he fails. Since he did a Full Action, he takes 8 damage from Crippling (Bloodletters have an Intelligence characteristic of 30; they aren’t very bright). He had to take another Willpower test due to Warp Instability, but he passed this time.**

**Chell is stunned.**

**Round 5**

**If you’re keeping score, the Bloodletter has taken 24 points of damage. Since he has 22 Wounds, he has already taken 2 points of Critical Damage from Rending. However, due to Blood for the Blood God, he is immune to the effects. This round, he again spends a Full Action trying to break free from Foul Cage. He succeeds, but takes 8 more damage from Crippling, which stack on top of the last 2 points of Critical Damage. Since 10 points of Critical Damage always kills a character, the daemon is cast back into the Warp.**

**Chell is still stunned as the fight ends.**

**Chell both performed a service to the Chaos gods and failed the Chaos gods simultaneously in this fight. She performed a service to Tzeentch by killing a powerful foe with a psychic power. She also failed Tzeentch by being incapacitated by psychic phenomena. Both these things grant her Corruption.**


End file.
